The Bharatiya Janata Party has requested the Uttarakhand Governor to order an inquiry in the case of the alleged misuse of the Chief Minister’s social media accounts and the illegal phone tapping conducted during the tenure of Harish Rawat as the CM.
A delegation of BJP leaders led by its State General Secretary Naresh Bansal met the Governor KK Paul at Raj Bhawan and submitted a memorandum stating their request for investigation on Monday.
In the memorandum Bansal states, “During the term of former Chief Minister Harish Rawat, social media accounts and portals set up for publicity of CM were misused. BJP inquired into this and found serious financial and administrative anomalies in this. The social media account set up by the Information Department was linked to the personal website of Harish Rawat after the imposition of president’s rule in Uttarakhand. The government portal of the information department disseminating misinformation is a serious matter which needs to be investigated.”
In another memorandum submitted to the Governor, Bansal elicited focus on the alleged illegal phone tapping by the Government during Rawat’s tenure. It states, “Special Task Force, Uttarakhand has itself admitted that between July 2015 and March 2016, the STF Uttarakhand conducted phone tapping of 378 phones. Additionally, information for the period from 2005 to June 2015 has been destroyed. As per the phone tapping procedure as stated by the Supreme Court, orders for phone tapping can be issued only Central Government’s Home secretary or the State Government’s Home secretary which in all probability was in the knowledge of the then CM Harish Rawat. It appears as if the State Government violated the regulations and orchestrated phone tapping of its political rivals, journalists and even Congress leaders perceived as presenting internal threat to the party. Considering the seriousness of the issue, it becomes necessary that a high level inquiry be conducted into the whole affair,” states the BJP memorandum.
It goes on to request the Governor to direct a high level inquiry into the allegations to be followed by legal action against those persons who are found guilty in the case.
In a third memorandum also submitted by the BJP State General Secretary to the Governor, the party has elicited focus on the alleged scam in the purchase of electricity during the term of Harish Rawat in the office of CM.
Stating that the State would stand to suffer major financial loss, the memorandum has requested an investigation into this allegation.