Guwahati, Sep 13: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday refuted the land scam allegations against his wife Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, adding that she did receive any subsidies from the Central government to purchase land.
Earlier in the day, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi shared an image on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote: “PM Modi launched the Kisan Sampada scheme to double the income of farmers of India. But in Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma used his influence to help his wife’s firm get Rs 10 crore as part of credit linked subsidy..
“Are Central government schemes meant to enrich the BJP?”
Reacting to Gogoi’s post, the Chief Minister tweeted: “I would like to clarify that neither my wife nor the company she is associated with has ever received any financial subsidies from the Government of India.”
Earlier, allegations surfaced that Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, the Chairperson and Managing Director of Pride East Entertainments media group, bought 50 bigha 2 katha of agricultural land in Kaliabor Dargaji village in Nagaon district after Himanta became the Chief Minister two years ago.
Citing an RTI report, it was claimed that as per the ceiling law, no one can own more than 49.5 bigha of agricultural land and therefore, after the Chief Minister’s wife bought the land, its class was changed to industrial land.
It has been also alleged that Pride East Entertainment also received government assistance of Rs 10 crore from the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana to set up a food processing enterprise there.
The whole process was completed in just 10 months.
Riniki Bhuyan Sharma’s company runs several news and entertainment channels, tea plantations, hotels, resorts, schools, newspapers and is also involved in many businesses.
IANS