Guwahati, Jan 2: Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday took a dig at Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for being ranked as one of the richest chief ministers in the country.
Sarma promised that Assam would be in the top five states in India in terms of development, but on the other hand he is on the verge of becoming one of the top five richest chief ministers, said Gogoi.
The rank of the richest chief ministers was given in a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Monday.
“What was promised by the BJP Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma that Assam will be in the top 5 states in India in terms of development. Instead Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma himself is on the verge of becoming the one of the top 5 richest Chief Ministers in India,” Gogoi wrote on ‘X’.
The Congress deputy leader in Lok Sabha said while four NDA chief ministers from northeast India are in the top 10 richest chief ministers list shared by the Association of Democratic Reforms (@adrspeaks), their states lag behind in Human Development Index rankings.
“BJP Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is ranked 7th richest, while Assam is ranked 31st on the UNDP HDI index. Looking at the sharp contrast between personal wealth and state development, it is clear that “Vikas” is only for BJP. Is this the ‘development’ promised by the double engine BJP sarkar ?” Gogoi asked.
According to the ADR report, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is the richest chief minister in India with assets worth over Rs 931 crore, while West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee is the poorest with just Rs 15 lakh.
The ADR report said Sarma has assets worth about Rs 17 crore and ranked 9th among the richest chief ministers.
The report said the average asset per chief minister from the state assemblies and union territories is Rs 52.59 crore.
While India’s per capita net national income or NNI was approximately Rs 1,85,854 for 2023-2024, the average self-income of a chief minister is Rs 13,64,310, around 7.3 times the average per capita income of India.
The total assets of 31 chief ministers are worth Rs 1,630 crores.
Arunachal Pradesh’s Pema Khandu is the second richest chief minister with total assets worth over Rs 332 crores, Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah is the third on the list with assets worth more than Rs 51 crore.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, with assets worth Rs 55 lakh, is the second poorest in the list and Pinarayi Vijayan is third with Rs 1.18 crore.
Khandu also has the highest liabilities to the tune of Rs 180 crore.
Siddaramaiah has liabilities worth Rs 23 crore and Naidu more than Rs 10 crore, the report said. (PTI)
