Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of conspiring and horsetrading in Uttarakhand, the Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay has written to Uttarakhand Governor Krishan Kant Paul and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan requesting that BJP leader and MlA from MP, Kailash Vijayvargiya be stopped from active involvement in Uttarakhand’s politics in order to maintain democracy and the ‘dignity’ of Uttarakhand. At the same time, former Chief Minister Harish Rawat alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party had persuaded two former top bureaucrats to assist in the purported ploy to prevent him from passing the floor test in Vidhan Sabha to form Government in the State. After the result of the floor test, the Congress will wage a campaign against such “blackmailers”, he said while addressing a Press conference along with Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kishore Upadhyay at Congress Bhawan here on Sunday.
lambasting the BJP for orchestrating its “conspiracy” to bring down a democratically elected Government and preventing it from proving its majority in the Assembly, Upadhyay accused Vijayvargiya of being responsible for the present political crisis in Uttarakhand. He said, “In my letters to the Uttarakhand Governor and the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister I have recalled that there are four corruption cases against Vijayvargiya in the MP lokayukta and expressed concern about his machinations tainting politics in Uttarakhand. In my letter to the MP CM I have requested Chauhan to call his MlA-Vijayvargiya back to his home State failing which I will have to lodge a criminal case against Vijayvargiya for corrupting the political environment in Uttarakhand. The Supreme Court has given Harish Rawat an opportunity to prove his majority in the Assembly on May 10 but I suspect that the BJP may concoct a new conspiracy to prevent Rawat from utilising this opportunity.” Stressing that Congress MlAs had desisted attempts being made to make them defect, the PCC chief commended them for their loyalty to the party.
Former CM, Harish Rawat said, “I am being watched as if I am a traitor and my personal freedom is being impinged upon by those who brought down our democratically elected Government. The BJP leaders and some other persons are acting like blackmailers to influence politics in Uttarakhand. They have also used past stings against two former top bureaucrats to induce them into doing their bit in the conspiracy to bring down our Government and prevent me from proving majority in the House,” he said. When asked to name the bureaucrats Rawat refrained saying that this was a “polite warning” to the bureaucrats. “If they continue their involvement in the conspiracy they will be viewed akin to blackmailers and after the floor test, we will undertake a campaign under the PCC chief to expose these blackmailers,” he said.