War of words between former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and his once upon a time blue-eyed-boy Himanta Biswa Sarma continued on Friday as Gogoi made some explosive allegations against Sarma. He also admitted before mediapersons that he is guilty of turning a blind eye to many of Himanta’s scams.
Speaking to mediapersons in New Delhi, the former Assam chief minister said, “I am guilty of protecting Himanta from many scams. To save his skin from the Arms Act case during AGP’s tenure, he joined Congress. Now, to save himself from the Louis Berger scam, he joined BJP. There have been allegations of his involvement in North Cachar Hills scam, Saradha scam. But every time, I turned a blind eye to it.”
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Gogoi also said that it was due to his intervention Himanta could start the news channel News Live, which is owned by Himanta’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma. He said, “Central government didn’t want to give permission to Himanta to start a news channel. I took him to the then Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and literally fought with him. I also met Dr Manmohan Singh who was the Prime Minister of the country at that time. Later, they agreed to give Himanta the permission to start a news channel.”
Replying to Himanta’s allegation that no work was done during the Congress tenure, he said, “During a major part of my tenure, Himanta was my Finance Minister and he used to answer for me in the Assembly. So, if he highlighted the success of my government at that time and now he is saying that no work was done during my tenure, this proves he is telling lies. He either told lies then or he is telling lies now. And such a person can never be trusted.”