Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the state police was doing their job by trailing Pawan Khera in connection with a case filed by the former's wife over allegations that she held multiple passports and offshore properties.
Sarma also took a swipe at state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday over the British nationality of his wife and children and asked how a person who "could not have an Indian family serve us".
Talking to reporters at the state BJP headquarters after polling for the Assembly elections ended, he said, "We have put the police after Khera. Whom else will we task it with? It is not the ULFA that is after him; it is the police. If there is an FIR, it is the duty of the police to act on it."
"Police are slaves of the law, and they're going to the house of a person named in a case, which is legal... The police are paid salaries to go to the houses of criminals," he said.
Sarma was responding to Khera, claiming that the chief minister has "unleashed" the police against him for making allegations against his wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma.
A team of the Assam Police searched the Congress leader's Delhi residence on Tuesday, acting on a complaint lodged by the chief minister's wife. They, however, could not find Khera.
Sarma said, "Gaurav Gogoi went to vote (in Jorhat) with his mother, not his wife. I went with my wife... If his wife could have gone with him, it would have looked so nice."
"This proves my allegations that he couldn't make his own family Indian. How will such a person serve us?" he posed, in an apparent reference to the opposition alliance projecting Gogoi as its chief ministerial candidate.
"During the whole campaign, nobody saw his wife or children. How can he criticise us? We are proud Assamese people. His father (former three-time CM Tarun Gogoi) was a proud Assamese, but not him," he said.
"I can't think of any politician, especially one with Ahom lineage, whose wife and children are Christians, and not Assamese or Indians. In frustration, Gogoi has befriended Khera and is making the false documents (against my wife)," the chief minister claimed.
Sarma slammed the Congress for "using" Zubeen Garg’s name during the election and questioned whether their leaders will continue visiting the late singer's cremation ground now that the polls are over.
Garg died in Singapore on September 19 last year while swimming in the sea. The 52-year-old singer had gone to the Southeast Asian nation to perform in the North East India Festival.
The chief minister said if the BJP retains power, the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will be implemented. But it will not be done in haste.
"It is in our manifesto to bring the UCC. But in Assam, we have different tribes and communities, and they will be consulted. We will not bring it in haste," he said.
Sarma also affirmed fulfilling the promises made in the party's manifesto. He added that the conduct of the Assembly elections in a single phase was testimony to the return of peace in the state, which will open the doors for more development and investment.
Asked about his prediction for the BJP and its allies' tally in the elections, Sarma said, "If we get about 90 seats, then the opposition will have around 36 seats, which means the position of leader of the opposition will remain. But if we get 100 seats, then there would be no leader of the opposition position."
The Assam Assembly has 126 members.
He refused to write off any opposition leader and said, "Everyone gets whatever is in their destiny. I can only say that as of today, the BJP’s fortunes are good. I don't know what will happen in 2031.”
Sarma also hit out at two local media houses, claiming that they would be "politically and intellectually finished" if he retains power.
He once again raised questions on the AJP's Guwahati Central candidate Kunki Chowdhury over her mother's non-Assamese origins and accused her family of indulging in land grabbing near Guwahati.
"If Himanta Biswa Sarma were not here, these people would have even got the Padma awards. They are speaking of the Gen Z, but they cannot see that the BJP has given tickets to youngsters like Rupali Langthasa (in Haflong)," Sarma said.