To steal the thunder from the deposed CM Harish Rawat’s continuing foot march, the State BJP is all set to stage a counter in the form of Uttarakhand Bachao Yatra from next week.
The march would commence at a prayer to be held during Ganga Arti at Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar. Disclosing, State BJP president Ajay Bhatt said on Saturday that they would lay bare the hypocrisy that the former CM is an incarnation of. “He was caught on camera luring the dissident Congress MlAs into the party folds by offering plum ministerial portfolios aside from assuring them that they could siphon of Government funds with impunity with his Government looking the other way. The same person is now shedding tears over democracy being murdered through promulgation of President’s Rule. Though out of power, Harish Rawat is baring tooth and claw, warning bureaucrats against nullifying cabinet decisions,” Bhatt said.
Hitting hard at the ex-CM, Bhatt further said he himself had murdered democracy by having the BJP MlA Ganesh Joshi framed in false charges and denying the MlAs their rights of voting on the State Budget. “Aside from Joshi, other MlAs from the Opposition have been put behind bars, tagging them to concocted cases. To name a few, Puran Fartyal, Arvind Pandey and Rajkumar Thukral were made to languish in jails,” he said.
“Besides, Rawat committed an indiscretion by not entering his property at Ghaziabad in the undertaking he had given while contesting 2012 Assembly election. He was even served a notice by GDA. The Assembly being as important as court, the former CM is guilty of contempt,” he said.
lashing out at Harish Rawat, Bhatt said that he owed an explanation to the people over what he meant by ‘top-up’ while he was talking to the touts over the deal he sought with the renegade MlAs. “This makes it crystal clear that Rawat gave free hand to his ministers to embezzle government funds,” Bhatt said, adding that his party demands CBI inquiry into the property details of the former CM and his Ministers.
The State BJP chief said that there should be in-built constructional safeguards against a Speaker hell-bent on blatantly misusing his powers to throttle the voice of the Opposition in naked display of bias to the ruling clique. “This is what happened in Uttarakhand Assembly on the fateful night of March 18. I would write to the President, Chief Justice of India and Prime Minister to amend things in the Constitution to deter Speakers from acting in the way Govind Singh Kunjwal did here,” he said.
He also demanded inquiry into the Speaker’s discretionary fund and Chief Minister’s discretionary fund. “This is because of the fact that works are being allotted without summoning tenders,” he said.
Referring to the infamous liquor sting, Bhatt said Rawat was the fountainhead of corruption reigning in the State. “After his secretary Mohammad Shahid was caught on camera while seeking Rs 20 crore from the liquor barons on behalf of then CM, Rawat went for the blood of the journalist Ashok Pandey who is supposed to have made the CD while shielding Shahid all through,” he said, adding that Rawat was out and out an unscrupulous politician desperate to cling to power by hook or by crook.