The Congress party on Wednesday mounted a sharp attack on Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma even as he refuted allegations that his wife's firm received credit-linked subsidy from the central government to purchase land. Congress Deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi alleged in a social media post that the website of the Ministry of Food Processing shows Riniki Bhuyan Sarma’s firm Pride East Entertainments Private Limited receiving ₹10 crore as part of credit linked subsidy.
Sarma refuted the claim saying “neither my wife nor the company she is associated with has ever received any financial subsidies from the Government of India”.
Unsatisfied with the clarification, Gogoi said the ministry's website clearly shows Riniki Bhuyan Sarma’s name and the company she is associated with. The Congress leader also posted a link to the website which purportedly shows the list of companies and promoters who have received the ₹10 crore subsidy.
The chief minister again posted on 'X' that he "would like to reiterate again with full responsibility" that his wife and the company she is associated with have not taken any subsidy from the Centre. However, Sarma refrained from commenting on the document available on the ministry's website.
Gogoi’s accusation was based on a news report carried on Sunday on a website namely Cross Current. The report alleged that Bhuyan’s company ‘Pride East Entertainment’, in which she holds the majority stake, had purchased nearly 10 acres of agricultural land in Kaliabor Mouza (which falls in Gogoi’s constituency) in February 2022– nine months after Sarma had taken charge as the chief minister.
{{/usCountry}}Gogoi’s accusation was based on a news report carried on Sunday on a website namely Cross Current. The report alleged that Bhuyan’s company ‘Pride East Entertainment’, in which she holds the majority stake, had purchased nearly 10 acres of agricultural land in Kaliabor Mouza (which falls in Gogoi’s constituency) in February 2022– nine months after Sarma had taken charge as the chief minister.
{{/usCountry}}The report further alleged that the agricultural plot was converted to industrial land within months and Pride East Entertainment applied for a subsidy under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana to set up a food processing unit and for that, the Union food processing ministry approved a subsidy of Rs.10 crore to the company on November 10 last year.
Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera shared screenshots of the purported list and Wikimedia summary that shows Sarma's wife as managing director of Pride East Entertainments Private Limited.
Khera wrote, “Dear @himantabiswa….. will you still deny?”
Sarma responded, “I completely deny and reiterate that my wife and the company she is associated with, Pride East Entertainment Pvt Limited, have not received any subsidies from the Government of India.”
To this, Khera, who was arrested by Assam Police in February and later released on bail, wrote, “In that case, will you send Assam Police to arrest the minister of food processing?”