GUWAHATI: Assam minister and BJP strongman Himanta Biswa Sarma owns no car, no immovable asset, and has only Rs 25,200 cash in hand, according to his declaration in his election affidavit submitted on Friday, when he filed his nomination papers for the Assam assembly elections.
Sarma has declared total assets worth over Rs 1.7 crore as against over Rs 1 crore in 2016. But his family income has increased by over Rs 10 crore in the last five years. The collective wealth of the minister’s family of four — comprising himself, his entrepreneur wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma and two children — stands at Rs 17.2 crore. In 2016, this stood at nearly Rs 6.4 crore.
The 52-year-old politician doesn’t have immovable assets but has deposits of Rs 45.8 lakh in one bank account and Rs 5.9 lakh in another. Sarma has not bought any jewellery during the last five years, declaring 180gm gold in both the polls; the value of this gold has increased to Rs 7.7 lakh from Rs 5 lakh in 2016. But his wife’s gold jewellery has doubled to 1,459.2gm, worth Rs 60.6 lakh, from 757gm valued at Rs 22.7 lakh in 2016.
However, the total worth of Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, CMD at Pride East Entertainment — assets both movable and immovable — has increased three-fold. From Rs 5.3 crore in 2016, Riniki’s assets have increased to Rs14.5 crore. She has two vehicles — a Toyota Innova and a Jeep.