In less than one year since the Trivendra Singh Rawat- helmed BJP Government assumed charge of Uttarakhand, the saffron party MlAs have started squabbling among themselves in public, something, coming just before the crucial civic body elections, has left the top brass of the ruling party deeply worried.
A few months after the followers of the two senior Ministers-Madan Kaushik and Satpal Maharaj- had fought it out bitterly over the demolition drive launched in an ashram in Haridwar at the behest of the mayor Manoj Garg, the saffron party lawmaker from Khanpur, Pranav Singh ‘Champion’ has vented anger against the State Government, saying that he would meet the party’s national president Amit Shah in Delhi to apprise him of his unhappiness. “I am the lion and the champion while the Ministers are non-entities beside my stature,” bragged the MlA who switched to BJP from Congress after the exodus of Congress MlAs in a rebellion against then Chief Minister Harish Rawat a few months before the 2017 Assembly election. Deepening the wrinkles of worry on the saffron brows, the former CM and the BJP MP from Haridwar Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank is believed to have arranged a meeting of 20- odd legislators at his place recently to discuss the ongoing wrangling over the move to remove a BSP district panchayat member Mohammad Sattar over corruption issue. Interestingly, Nishank is supporting ‘Champion’ over the Sattar issue, as the wife of ‘Champion’, Devyani Singh had lodged the complaint against the BSP district panchayat member.
The saffron party insiders say that the wily Nishank has thrown his weight behind ‘Champion’ over the Sattar issue as the senior Cabinet Minister and his bête noir Madan Kaushik is batting for Sattar. Notably, Devyani Singh had lodged a police complaint against Sattar, alleging that the latter had barged into the locked district panchayat office and signed some cheques in violation of the norms.
Addressing a press conference in Roorkee, ‘Champion’ said that the BSP party worker had been made a district panchayat member despite opposition from within the party rank and file at the behest of a Minister and he along with another had signed numerous vouchers while keeping other panchayat members in the dark. “I have complained against Sattar and Ami lal Valmiki to the chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and Madan Kaushik. However, no action has yet been taken against them.”
‘Champion’, known for his penchant to spark rows, did not leave things there. “I wonder at whose bidding the Trivendra Singh Rawat government has been acting,” he said. Training his gun on the CM himself, he said that he had complained against a corrupt official from Dugdh Vikas Sangh to the CM some ten months ago. “But the government is still sitting on it,” he said.
Observers say that the ruling party brass is dithering over taking action against Sattar as the latter has the whole-hearted backing of the redoubtable minister Madan Kaushik. “Kaushik and Sattar’s brother Mohammad Shahzad are on very good terms,” says an observer.