Guwahati: After Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, threatened to file a Rs 10 crore defamation suit against Gaurav Gogoi, the Congress MP has urged her to make Union Minister Piyush Goyal and BJP MP Pallab Das a party to the case.
“Out of respect I will offer my free advice to the company linked to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma which has received approval for a Rs 10 crore grant from the Government of India. Please make Union Minister Piyush Goyal and BJP MP Pallab Das a party to the case,” Gogoi wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Gogoi’s claim that a firm, of which Bhuyan Sarma is the CMD, was granted a subsidy of Rs 10 crore by the central government is based on a written reply given by Union Minister of Commerce and Industries Piyush Goyal in the Lok Sabha.
MP Gogoi also shared a copy of a written reply given by Union Minister of Commerce and Industries Piyush Goyal in the Lok Sabha pertaining to the implementation of PM Kisan Sampada Scheme in Northeast.
In a written reply to BJP MP Pallab Lochan Das, Minister Goyal shared details of approved projects under component schemes of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) implemented in the Northeast.
In the reply, Goyal clearly mentioned that a project under Infrastructure for Agro Processing Cluster Scheme of the PMKSY is being implemented in Nagaon by M/S Pride East Entertainment Private Limited, to which Bhuyan Sarma is CMD.
Bhuyan Sarma has denied the allegations, saying that her company neither claimed nor received a single paisa of government subsidy, despite meeting all eligibility criteria.
“To protect the reputation of our hardworking employees from this slanderous campaign of Sri Gaurav Gogoi…I am thereby constrained to file a case of defamation with Rs 10 crore in damages against him in the court of law,” she said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, a war broke out on X between the CM and the Congress MP. Gogoi issued a series of posts to hold his ground.