Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday filed a Rs 500-crore defamation case against senior Congress leaders Jitendra Singh, Bhupesh Baghel and Gaurav Gogoi over “false” and “malicious” allegations made by them over his land holdings. The allegations have spiced up Assam’s political corridors ahead of elections this year.
The development comes after Gogoi, who is the Assam Congress president, claimed last week that a probe by the party revealed that almost 12,000 bighas of land were occupied by Sarma and his family members across the state.
The suit, seeking Rs 500 crore in damages, was eventually filed on Tuesday.
“Today, I have filed a defamation case seeking Rs 500 crore in damages against Congress leaders Jitendra Singh, Bhupesh Baghel and Gaurav Gogoi for making false, malicious and defamatory allegations against me through a press conference,” Sarma tweeted.
Previously, Sarma asserted that he won’t be “intimidated” by propaganda, slander, or political theatrics of “slaves of the Gandhi family”.
The firebrand BJP leader, who left the Congress in 2015, further posted, “The era of hit-and-run politics is over. If they have even an ounce of courage or evidence, let them prove every allegation before a court of law.”
HIMANTA SARMA VS GAURAV GOGOI 2.0
Assam’s political space has already heated up ahead of the assembly elections this year.
Sarma opened another front against Gogoi after he alleged that the Congress leader and his British wife, Elizabeth Colburn, had “deep links” with a Pakistani national, Ali Tauqeer Sheikh. The Chief Minister suggested that intel might have been passed to Pakistan.
The Congress hit back swiftly, claiming that Sarma had no documentary evidence to support his claims and “lost his mental balance”.
