Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay has said allegations made by former Mizoram Governor Dr Aziz Qureshi about being pressurised by the Centre for bringing down Governments in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have substantiated the charge levelled by the PCC against the NDA Government of being biased against Uttarakhand’s interests. Upadhyay said that the PCC strongly condemns these attempts of the BJP to bring down the Congress-led State Government.
Addressing the media at the Congress Bhawan, Upadhyay, citing Qureshi’s allegations said that during his tenure as the Governor of Uttarakhand handling the additional charge of Uttar Pradesh Governor, Qureshi had been pressurised by the BJP-led Central Government to initiate the process of bringing down the Congress-led State Government headed by Chief Minister Harish Rawat in Uttarakhand.
He said, “The BJP feels that not being elected to power in India is akin to a defeat of the party’s divisive agenda so it tried on four occasions to bring about the fall of our Government. The PCC strongly condemns such actions. I would also appeal to Qureshi that it is important to expose the BJP leaders and ministers pressurising him, he added. The allegations substantiate our allegation on the Centre of ignoring the State’s requirements. The Centre has not released a single rupee so far for the works to be undertaken for the 2016 Ardh Kumbh to be held at Haridwar,” he said.
Regarding the Bhagwanpur Assembly by-polls, the PCC chief expressed confidence that considering the work done by the recently deceased Surendra Rakesh in his position as the MlA and cabinet minister would ensure majority support of the voters to his widow and Congress candidate Mamta Rakesh. He also rejected allegations made by the BJP about the misuse of Government machinery by the Congress in the Bhagwanpur by-polls. Congress State co-incharge Sanjay Kapoor, MlAs Rajkumar, Pranav Singh and PCC spokesman Anshul Shree Kunj were also present on the occasion.