Former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president and Congress candidate from Garhwal Lok Sabha Ganesh Godiyal has said BJP is trying to demoralise him by using every tactic in its book. Interacting with the media persons at the headquarters of the State Congress here on Wednesday he said on March 19 when he was campaigning for the elections in Gopeshwar in Chamoli, the Income Tax department sent summons to him in Mumbai. He said that one notice each is given to him and his wife while one notice is in the name of a firm owned by him.
“The IT department has asked me to personally appear in the office of Thane near Mumbai at 11.30 am on March 22. This shows that frightened by the tremendous response I am receiving in the Garhwal Lok Sabha seat, the BJP has now stooped down to such tactics. I have nothing to hide as I have done nothing wrong and I have asked my lawyer and CA to appear in the IT office on my behalf,’’ he said.
Godiyal said that he has faced such a situation in the past as well when he refused to side with BJP in 2016 and when he protested the LASER show in Kedarnath temple during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a blistering attack on BJP the Congress leader said that just like in one of our neighbouring countries where the army is used against opposition, the BJP is using central agencies to suppress the voice of opposition.
Godiyal added that the BJP is engaging in pressure politics and the defection of the then MLA from Badrinath Rajendra Bhandari is part of the politics of coercion. He admitted that absence of Bhandari discouraged and shocked him but the manner in which the party workers of Chamoli have rallied behind him and the party shows that defection of Bhandari will have no effect. Godiyal claimed that large numbers of local leaders of BJP are in touch with him and they will join Congress. The spokesperson of Chamoli Congress Vikas Jugran claimed that defection of Bhandari will have no effect on the prospect of Godiyal who is receiving support of all sections of the society.
