The Chief Minister’s office in Assam responded on Saturday to allegations regarding the use of public funds for election campaigning and personal events, asserting that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has never utilised official expenses for campaign purposes. The statement addressed reports from media outlets, including New Delhi-based The Wire and Guwahati-based The Crosscurrent, which claimed that crores of rupees from state government funds were used to hire helicopters and chartered planes for BJP campaign activities.
According to the Chief Minister’s office, all election-related expenses, including flights, are covered by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) through bank transfers or cheques. The statement highlighted that no expenditure for the Chief Minister’s election campaigns is borne by the state exchequer.
In response to the joint investigative report, the Chief Minister’s office criticised the media coverage, describing it as “mischievous, misleading, and a lazy hit job.” The report alleged that Sarma used taxpayers’ money to hire chartered planes to attend party meetings and weddings, alongside campaign activities.
The Chief Minister’s office addressed the issue of social functions coinciding with official visits, stating, “Compared to all the official visits undertaken by HCM since May 2021, such coincidences are far few. It is appalling to see the authors of this story make sweeping conjectures based on incidental social programmes which HCM has attended.”
Referring to the hyperlinked tweets in the news article, the Chief Minister’s office criticised the selective reading of tweets to assume a single agenda for a given day. The statement labelled it as a “malicious attempt to spread disinformation and dishonest intention of the authors.”
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The media portals had cited RTI replies claiming that Chief Minister Sarma used taxpayers’ money to hire chartered planes for personal events. The Chief Minister’s office, however, dismissed these claims, emphasising that the allegations were based on a selective reading of tweets and RTI replies.
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