BJP demands CBI probe

Louis Berger bribery scam

Himanta threatens to take media houses to court

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, July 22: Raking up the Louis Berger kickback scandal, the State BJP today pointed accusing fingers at both Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and former GDD minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, pressing for a CBI probe.

Releasing a document titled 'Saga of Scams in Congress-ruled States', the BJP's parliamentary committee said that during the time of the scam, Himanta Biswa Sarma was the Guwahati Development minister of the Tarun Gogoi government. "He was the closest aide of the Chief Minister and so touted as the most powerful minister of the state. At the same time, the Chief Minister was heading the Fince department during that time and so his role is not beyond doubt in this case. That's another reason why a CBI inquiry is a must to find out the real truth," the BJP's 'chargesheet' said, questioning Gogoi's "stony silence" on the issue. Meanwhile, Himanta Biswa Sarma today trained his guns on the media, threatening legal action for "unnecessarily dragging his me into the scam". "The reports in the US media clearly state that a minister from Goa was involved. There was just a passing comment that some officials from Assam were also involved. Where does my me figure in this?," Sarma said. He claimed that there was "no favouritism or manipulation" in the allotment of works and that the execution of the project was better in Guwahati than in Goa. "Everything was done according to JICA…Why am I being made a punching bag every time? This time I may take legal action against media houses if they continue this propaganda against me," he threatened.