The attempt to revive focus on the sting operation purportedly showing chief minister Harish Rawat allegedly indulging in corruption is an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party to frame the chief minister Harish Rawat. In this scenario the entire Congress party stands together with the chief minister, said the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay here on Thursday. He further said that if the BJP provides the compact disc of the said sting operation the Congress will screen the recording for the public.
Speaking at a Press conference here at the Congress Bhawan, the PCC chief said that the prime minister Narendra Modi in his public address in Dehradun had referred to past instances of alleged corruption and the sting operation. By raking up the sting operation issue and the alleged scam orchestrated in the disaster relief works, the BJP is trying to frame chief minister Harish Rawat. However, the entire Congress party stands together with the chief minister. The PCC chief further said that if the BJP provides the compact disk to him, the Congress will hold screenings of the said sting operation for the public so that the people may ascertain on their own as to the contents of the CD.
On the subject of drafting the party’s election manifesto, the PCC chief said that the party had so far held programmes in about 500 locations across the state in order to take the public views and issues. The party members interacted with and took the views of the youth, women, senior citizens, economically weaker and various other sections of the society for issues to be incorporated in the party’s election manifesto for the coming Vidhan Sabha elections. Referring to the party’s organisational developments, the PCC chief informed that the Congress party screening committee has already held rounds of meetings as part of the process of the selection of party candidates which is already underway in view of the Vidhan Sabha election 2017. Refraining from stating a set time period for declaration of party candidates for the Vidhan Sabha, Upadhyay said that the declaration of party candidates’ names would be made in the near future. lambasting the BJP-led Union Government for the demonetisation step taken in the recent past, Upadhyay said that senior Congress leaders including Pratap Singh Bajwa will be arriving in Dehradun on Friday to assess the situation and problems being faced by the public 50 days after the demonetisation step was taken by the Centre. The economy of Uttarakhand had also suffered the detrimental effect of the demonetisation move, he averred.