Varanasi, Feb. 8 -- Congress leader Pawan Khera on Sunday strongly criticised Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, alleging that the latter is leveraging "false allegations" against Gaurav Gogoi to conceal a major land scandal.

He further alleged that 1.5 lakh acres of land have been given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "close people".

Speaking to reporters here, Khera said, "They have been speaking nonsense for the past year and have now produced a so-called SIT report."

He also claimed this was a deliberate move to divert attention from the alleged land scam, in which 1.5 lakh acres of land were allegedly given to people close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"To divert attention from these issues, false allegations are bein...