Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, the wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa
Sarma, has filed a Rs 10 crore defamation suit against Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi
for “false” allegations of irregularities in a food processing project.
Senior advocate Devajit Saikia, her counsel, said the case has been
filed at the Court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) of Kamrup Metropolitan and
it will be moved on September 26.
“My client has claimed a defamation of Rs 10 crore against Gaurav
Gogoi for various tweets on X. We have made it very clear that we never made
any application to receive subsidy,” he added.
Saikia further claimed that the process to seek subsidy has not
been initiated at all and for which, a showcause notice was slapped on his
client’s firm on May 26 this year, followed by an email from the Ministry of
Food Processing.
“The approval for the project was given on November 22, 2022. In
the last email, we were told that our claim would lapse if we didn’t submit our
proposal. We are not responding to anything to seek subsidy,” he added.
Whatever Gogoi stated on social media about Sarma and her entity ‘Pride
East Entertainments’, that information was not based on facts, claimed the
senior advocate.
“He (Gogoi) did not do his homework. Getting approval for a project
does not mean that a subsidy has been received. We will fight the case tooth
and nail,” he asserted.
A huge controversy erupted after Guwahati-based digital media ‘The
Crosscurrent’ published a report alleging that over 50 bigha (nearly 17 acres)
of agricultural land at Darigaji village in Kaliabor in Nagaon district was
reclassified as industrial land within a month after it was bought by Pride
East Entertainments, in which the chief minister’s wife is the chairman and
managing director.
Following this, Gogoi, in a series of tweets for several days,
brought allegations of corruption against Sarma and his wife in getting the Central
Government subsidy for the project.
The Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha sought the intervention
of Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal in bringing facts out in
the open regarding subsidy for the project under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan
Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) and Scheme for Creation of Infrastructure for Agro
Clusters.
The Assam MP also pointed out that on March 22, 2023, Goyal in a
reply to questions in Lok Sabha on the government’s initiative to invest in
Assam in order to support the promotion of industries, provided a list of food
processing projects supported under the component of PMKSY as on January 31,
2022.
“At Serial No 7 of the list, the name of M/S Pride East Entertainment
Pvt Ltd has been mentioned. Pertinently, the amount of approved Grant-in-Aid is
mentioned as Rs 10 crore. The list of beneficiaries can also be found on the
website of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries,” he added.
The PM Kisan Sampada Yojana is a comprehensive package which aims
to create modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from
farm gate to retail outlet.
Gogoi’s claims were vehemently challenged by the Chief Minister,
who was engaged in a prolonged duel with the Congress leader on X. His wife had
threatened to sue the MP alleging defamation.
PTI
