Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma vowed on Monday to take firm action against Congress leader Pawan Khera in response to his allegations.
Sarma stated, “I will take stringest action against Congress leader Pawan Khera, just wait for some days. We will win at least 100 seats in the elections,” while speaking to reporters in Sonitpur.
Sarma countered the claims made by Congress, asserting that property documents linking his family to apartments in Dubai had been stolen from the document-sharing platform Scribd. He identified the actual owners as Md Ahmad and Fatima Sulaiman and dismissed the opposition’s accusations as a digitally manipulated “fake AI campaign.” On X, Sarma wrote, “We have uncovered the real owners of the two Dubai apartments named during #CongFakeAICampaign. These flats are owned by Md. Ahmad and Fatima Sulaiman. Cong stole these documents from Scribd-https://scribd.com/document/769481891/May-Residence-Title-Deed#google_vignette. This is how we have found out, try on your own phones.”
In response to a post by Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi regarding the issue, Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sharma replied on X. Gogoi had written, “Reading about the Golden visa in Dubai. It is a long-term residence visa which enables investors to live in the United Arab Emirates.”
Riniki Bhuyan Sharma responded, “Reading about tourism in Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi. It seems to genuinely appeal to some couples.” She denied allegations of holding any assets or business interests abroad, stating, “I’ll save you the suspense and answer these laughable questions myself. Here it is: Neither I, nor my children, nor my husband have any business interests or assets in Dubai or anywhere outside India. Now your turn. Can you disclose whether your wife has or has ever had a bank account in Pakistan? And will you make those details public?”
She further challenged Gogoi’s statements, saying, “Also interesting how, within 24 hours, you’ve already climbed down from your claim of a ‘golden visa on an Egyptian passport’ to now talking about an ‘Indian passport.'”
This exchange follows Gogoi’s inquiries on X concerning alleged foreign assets and passport details of the Assam Chief Minister and his family. Earlier, Congress leader Pawan Khera had claimed in a press conference that Riniki Bhuyan Sharma possessed three passports and that the family maintained business interests worth Rs 52,000 crore in the United States. Sarma denied these allegations and announced his intention to file a defamation case against Khera.
The political controversy has escalated ahead of the Assam Assembly elections scheduled for April 9, involving 126 constituencies, with the counting of votes planned for May 4.