As if to counter the BJP’s attack on the Congress after the recent sting operation showing alleged corruption in the Uttarakhand Government, the Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay has demanded an enquiry into all the alleged scams that took place during the term of the BJP Government in Uttarakhand.
The PCC chief led a delegation of party leaders who met the chief minister Harish Rawat here on Monday and submitted a memorandum stating their demand targeting the BJP while also requesting that alleged scams under the Congress should also be made public.
In the memorandum, the Congress members have alleged that the interim State government of the BJP formed after creation of Uttarakhand worked to strengthen the foundation for corruption in stead of focusing on development of the State. It is necessary that all suspected scams under the BJP since State formation should be probed and action time bound action should be taken in cases in which the investigation has been completed.
The Congress members stated, “About 419 scams have taken place in Uttarakhand as also acknowledged by former senior Congress leader Satpal Maharaj who is now in the BJP. It is vital to take action in some of the major scams like the land scam in which many BJP leaders paid Re one token to register lands worth crores of rupees in their own name or in the name of their organisations. The ownership/lease of such lands should be cancelled. Action should also be taken on the inquiry report of the May 30, 2002 theft of lakhs of rupees from the BJP State office and the report should be made public. The then UPA government at the Centre had provided more than Rs750 crore to Uttarakhand for the 2010 Kumbh Mela but there were irregularities in the expenditure of this fund. This should be investigated afresh, criminal cases should be lodged against the guilty and the process of recovery of funds from them should be started. There were anomalies in the utilization of more than Rs600 crore provided by the Centre to the State after the 2010 disaster. Earlier, after formation of the BJP government in 2007, the then chief minister collaborated with the liquor mafia to transfer the wholesale business of liquor from government corporations to the private sector, orchestrating a scam amounting to crores of rupees. The resulting revenue loss should be calculated and recovered from those responsible. For construction of more than 50 hydro power projects, many projects were allocated to one businessman linked to the liquor syndicate.”
The Congress also pointed out that serious charges were leveled at a BJP chief minister in the death of Swami Nigamanand who had died following his hunger strike against illegal mining in rivers. This case should also be investigated again. The PCC delegation pointed out that it was not only the Congress which was accusing the BJP of corruption as one former CM of the BJP had also called the CM in 2011 the most corrupt chief minister of India. The Congress members requested that in case of alleged anomalies under the Congress government, such cases should also be made public and necessary action should be taken in all the scams that have taken place in Uttarakhand since its formation.