Guwahati: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President Bhupen Kumar Borah on Thursday asked three questions to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on his wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma’s firm Pride East Entertainment Private Limited receiving a Central government subsidy of Rs 10 crore.
The first question that Borah asked is, “In case Riniki Bhuyan Sarma had not applied for the grant, then why and under what circumstances, the Pride East Entertainment Private Limited’s name appear as one of the beneficiaries of the grant?”
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The APCC Chief secondly asked, “Why has the name of Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Pride East Entertainment Private Limited, been mentioned on the website of the Central government as one of the beneficiaries?”
Lastly, Borah asked, “To make public the details of the balance sheet of Pride East Entertainment Private Limited, since the period when Himanta Biswa Sarma was a cabinet minister in the BJP-led Assam government?”
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Borah also alleged that Chief Minister Sarma has tried to cover up the truth and the recent tweet of Sarma, that if it is proven that his wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma has received the subsidy from the Central government, then he will give up public life, is laughable and he can no more befool the public by such tweets.
Earlier in the day, Indian National Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on X (formerly Twitter) wrote, “Who is lying — the Assam Chief Minister or the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry? Clearly, both cannot be right.”
He was responding to a tweet by party MP Gaurav Gogoi, who alleged that Sarma had parroted one line regarding his wife’s firm, but Goyal’s reply in Parliament had exposed the truth.
Gogoi had attached Goyal’s reply to an unstarred question in Parliament on March 22, 2023, which showed that Sarma’s wife’s company had received Rs 10 crore as part of a credit-linked subsidy.
Gogoi alleged, “The whole day yesterday Himanta Biswa Sarma parroted one line regarding his wife’s firm. For his benefit, I am stating the reply of Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal in Parliament. Piyush Goyal’s reply has exposed the truth and both Ministers need to clarify.”
Gogoi had also asked whether Central government schemes were meant to enrich the BJP.
Sarma refuted the allegations, saying that neither his wife nor the company she is associated with has received any subsidies from the Central government to purchase land.
The Congress has demanded clarification from both Sarma and Goyal, saying that the public deserves to know the truth.