A day after the Congress-led bandh evoked a mixed response in Uttarakhand, the Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress of desperation and violence. It is very unfortunate and that even senior MLA and former Vidhan Sabha speaker Gobind Singh Kunjwal was seen arguing with a lady police officer and supporting youths who had allegedly misbehaved with girls to enforce the bandh in Chaiti area of Almora, said the BJP state spokesman and MLA Munna Singh Chauhan. He also said that the real aim of the all-India bandh called by the Congress was to test the consolidation of the grand alliance (Mahagathbandhan) with other parties against the BJP which had fallen flat on its face on Monday.
Addressing the media at the BJP state office Chauhan said, “The Congress members were in such state during the bandh that even their senior leaders resorted to arguments and threats when traders refused to comply. In Dehradun, the Pradesh Congress Committee president Pritam Singh and former cabinet minister Dinesh Agarwal argued with businessman Gurjinder Singh at Darshini Gate when he refused to close his shop. Agarwal went to the extent to warning that the shop could be looted if it remained open, in response to which the Sikh trader said that the Congress had already done so in 1984. There were many other instances in which even senior leaders tried to physically force the traders to shut their shops in support of the bandh. At Chaiti in Kumaon, the local MLA and former Assembly speaker Gobind Singh Kunjwal was seen arguing with a lady police officer and supporting youth who had allegedly harassed girls in the name of the bandh. In Udham Singh Nagar, they forced a school to shut down and its students to participate in the protest rally in support of the bandh. The people of Uttarakhand reacted aptly to the cheap gimmicks of the Congress party,” he said.
Chauhan further said that while the Congress was protesting against the rise in rates of petrol-diesel, it was not mentioning the billions of dollars due to Iran for fuel imported during the tenure of the UPA which was cleared by the NDA Government.
Referring to another allegation levelled by the Congress about the Central Government earning hefty revenue but not benefiting the public, he reiterated that the Central Government had effectively executed various welfare schemes. The BJP State media in charge Devendra Bhasin was also present in the Press conference.