GUWAHATI: Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday criticised Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for being ranked among the wealthiest chief ministers in India, despite his promises for the state’s development.
Gogoi pointed out the contrast between Sarma’s pledge to bring Assam into the top five developed states and his personal wealth, stating that while Sarma vowed progress for the state, he is now on the verge of becoming one of the top five richest chief ministers in the country.
This statement came in response to the recent report from the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which ranked Sarma as one of the wealthiest chief ministers.
“While Himanta Biswa Sarma promised that Assam would be among the top 5 developed states in India, he himself is nearly in the top 5 richest chief ministers. Is this the ‘development’ promised by the double-engine BJP government?” Gogoi wrote on social media platform ‘X’.
As the Deputy Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, Gogoi also pointed out the discrepancy between the wealth of several northeastern chief ministers and the development of their states.
He noted that although four NDA chief ministers from the northeast are in the top 10 wealthiest list, their states fall behind in the Human Development Index (HDI) rankings.
Sarma is ranked seventh in the ADR’s list of richest chief ministers, with assets valued at approximately Rs 17 crore, while Assam is ranked 31st in the UNDP HDI index.
The ADR’s report, which was released on Monday, highlighted that Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu tops the list with assets worth over Rs 931 crore, while West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee is the poorest, with assets of just Rs 15 lakh.
Sarma’s net worth places him ninth among the richest chief ministers in India.
The report also revealed that the average assets of chief ministers across India amount to Rs 52.59 crore, with Sarma’s wealth significantly exceeding the average.
It noted that the average self-income of a chief minister is approximately Rs 13.64 lakh, which is roughly 7.3 times the average per capita income of India.
Other notable figures in the report include Arunachal Pradesh’s Pema Khandu, who is the second richest chief minister with assets over Rs 332 crore, and Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah, who ranks third with assets exceeding Rs 51 crore.
The poorest chief ministers include Jammu and Kashmir’s Omar Abdullah, with assets of Rs 55 lakh, and Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan, with assets of Rs 1.18 crore.
Additionally, the ADR report highlighted the liabilities of certain leaders, with Khandu facing liabilities of Rs 180 crore, followed by Siddaramaiah at Rs 23 crore, and Naidu at more than Rs 10 crore.
