Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has termed the raid at the residence of Assam's agriculture Minister Rockybul Hussain last night as politically motivated and said that the raid was carried out ahead of the elections to defame Hussain and the Congress party.
The Chief Minister said this while addressing the newsmen on Thursday and added that the move has also exposed the Central Government's attitude towards the Opposition parties.
"It is politically motivated. It exposes the Centre's attitude towards the Opposition. The raid was conducted before the polls with the intention to defame the Congress party and Hussain, who is a senior Cabinet Minister and an important leader," said Gogoi.
A group of officials from the Election Commission of India, who identified themselves to be election expenditure observers, raided the residence of Hussain at Panjabari last evening. The team was led by one Raguvendra Singh, a Gujarat cadre IAS officer.
It may be mentioned here that Hussain has already lodged an FIR with the Dispur police station here seeking a probe into the raid and alleging that the raid was carried out to defame him in public ahead of the Assembly elections.
Gogoi also attacked the BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate, Sarbananda Sonowal and dared him to make public as to how much money Sonowal had given for the development of Majuli from his MP local area development fund.
"He (Sonowal) said that he has got the blessings of Vaishnavite Satras in Majuli and the Satradhikars. However, neither he nor the BJP, when it was in power at the Centre in the past, has given a single rupee to the Satras. There have been floods and erosions in Majuli, which are the major problems. What the BJP-led Government at the Centre has done for saving Majuli from flood and erosion since the BJP Government assumed power at the CentreIJ" Gogoi asked.
"My Government has been trying to get the coveted World heritage status for the Majuli. But the Centre had not done anything so far. They (Centre) do not even given money to mitigate the damage caused by the floods in Assam," he said.