Factional fight: No show cause notice from AICC, says Assam minister

Assam Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today denied any knowledge of an All-India Congress Committee show cause notice served on him. While a section of the media has been reporting that the notice was over the alleged anti-state government role played by a private channel News Live, believed to be run by his wife, Sarma sent out a message on Twitter saying he had received no such communication.[caption id=“attachment_653542” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Assam Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Image courtesy Facebook[/caption] “So far I have not received any letter from Sjt Digvijoya Singh, Honble Gen Secy of AICC regarding activities of a news Channel (News Live),” Sarma tweeted. The minister also took a dig at Bharat Chandra Narah, the press adviser to state Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. “However I am surprised how a senior politician like Bharat Narah can release a correspondence from AICC (if any) to news paper,” Sarma tweeted out. The tweets by the Assam health and education minister clearly expose the differences cropping out within the inner circles of the Congress in the state. Syed Zarir Hussain, the managing editor of News Live, made it clear that his channel has nothing to do with the political bickerings. “This is a completely political thing. Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, the minister’s wife, is just a member of the board of directors of News Live. I am sure if there is any such communication, the minister will prefer to respond to it politically,” Hussain told Firstpost over telephone from Guwahati. “We are absolutely independent. No one can dictate terms to us. We have shown everyone equally be it the government, opposition or dissidence in any political party,” he said. On being contacted by Firstpost, Bharat Narah expressed ignorance about the tweets. “I am not aware of any such tweets by the minister. If there is any I will check,” Narah said, unwilling to say any further.