Uttarakhand Assembly witnessed uproarious scene as soon as the proceedings started for the day on Friday. The Opposition members demanded work adjournment (under Rule 310) on the charges of corruption against the Chief Minister in the alleged CD episode. They even stormed to the well of the House.
On the demand of the Congress members, the Speaker ordered that the issue would be discussed under rule 58.
Participating in the discussions on acceptability of the proposal, senior Congress leader Pritam Singh said that the State Government should clear stand on the issue. He said that the charges are very serious and the Government should inform the House about its intention to implement Lokayukt in the State.
Former Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal reminded that the BJP had come to the power on the crest of the corruption issue. “It is, thus, a matter of grave concern that the charges have been made against the head of a Government which vows to follow zero tolerance on corruption policy,” he said. He recalled that the CBI inquiry had been ordered when the same person who has released this sting CD had done a sting on the former Chief Minister.
Bhagwanpur MLA Mamta Rakesh demanded CBI inquiry into the sting CD episode in which a relative of Chief Minister has been purportedly seen doing deals. Kedarnath MLA Manoj Rawat said that the people of Uttarakhand have suffered a lot due to corruption. But they did not have any forum to register their protest, he said. He further said that a case of sedition had been slapped against the journalist who had released the sting CD in Jharkhand by a person who had transferred money in some accounts to become head of Cow Service Commission.
Ranikhet MLA Karan Mahra demanded the contents of CD be played in the House. He demanded that either CBI or SIT inquiry, headed by a retired High Court (HC) judge, should be constituted to probe the issue. The leader of the Opposition Indira Hridayesh reminded the House of the Chief Minister throwing a dare to anybody having such CDs to present them in an open show in the Parade Ground.
In his reply, the State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant strongly defended the CM and said that the demand of the opposition is baseless.
He said that Ayush Gaur, the editor, investigation in a news channel, had lodged a police complaint against his CEO for threatening him for conducting a sting on the CM of Uttarakhand. “On his complaint, the CEO was arrested and many things were found from his possession,” he said and added that the CM is present nowhere in the purported CD. He claimed that the Government is transparent and clean.