The State Congress party that had to resort to horse trading to save its Government in Uttarakhand nearly two years ago, has again met with similar situation.
Interestingly, the Grand Old party that successfully led the situation arisen after bringing the then BJP MlA Kiran Mandal to party fold, to its logical conclusion by getting the Sitarganj assembly constituency vacated for the then Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, is again allegedly hatching a similar design to provide a smooth passage for incumbent Harish Rawat by way of breaking ranks with the Opposition BJP.
BJP MlA from the Bhimtal assembly constituency Dan Singh Bhandari's alleged one-and-half-hour long meeting with Chief Minister Harish Rawat in Haldwani on May 13 has only given strength to this impression which is doing round in the political circles for long. However, the BJP MlA from Bhimtal assembly constituency Dan Singh Bhandari, has categorically denied any such meeting with Chief Minister Rawat, threatening to take a Hindi daily that carried out a story in regard to his 'meet' with Chief Minister Rawat, to court.
"I have served a notice to the officials concerned of the said Hindi daily newspaper for publishing a 'false' and baseless' story regarding my alleged meeting with Chief Minister Rawat," said Bhandari.
"In case the officials concerned of the said Hindi daily fails to tender a written apology to me I will be constrained to institute a suit for defamation," asserted Bhandari. "In my legal notice dated May 17, 2014, I have given seven days' time to the officials concerned of the said Hindi daily. So I am waiting for a written apology and also demanding from the officials concerned that they should publish the apology in their newspaper within a week from the date of receipt of this notice. Otherwise, I will have no option but to move the court," Bhandari said.
"More importantly, the fact of the matter is I was out of station on the said date i.e. May 13, 2014. That is why I have asked the officials concerned of the Hindi daily newspaper to come with evidence with regard to my meeting with Chief Minister Rawat," Bhandari said.
"I am a committed member of the BJP. There is no question of leaving the party. This is a nefarious design to malign my reputation. That kind of false and fake story against me, has damaged my image and it is quite disappointing," he added.
BJP MlA Bhandari may not fall prey to the ruling Congress party's 'trap' in an present charged political atmosphere across the nation after the BJP's overwhelming victory in the lok Sabha polls, but to seek election from any one of the assembly constituencies within six months from the date of assuming charge of the Chief Minister office, is also a constitutional requirement for incumbent Harish Rawat.
Technically Chief Minister Rawat has to complete this formality by end of July 31, 2014. The Congress managed to take lead only in seven out of 70 assembly constituencies of the Himalayan state in the recently concluded general elections.
Interestingly, in that political scenario whereas the Congress party has had a bitter experience in the recently concluded lok Sabha elections in Uttarakhand too, it would interesting to see which assembly seat Chief Minister Rawat and his well wishers think safe for him to contest to get elected to the State legislative assembly.