Throwing a dare to the Opposition to prove its allegation that Rs1509 cr meant for disaster relief had gone mysteriously missing from Government records, Chief Minister Harish Rawat said on Friday that he would quit politics once this charge is proved correct.
Reiterating his earlier stance on the emotive matter, he said the sum amounts to the difference between the sum the Union government had purportedly allotted and the sum which the State Government had actually received. "The mystery of missing funds is an Opposition concoction. let them prove that there are substances in it and I would instantly call it a day in politics," the Chief Minister said, while replying to a media query at a press conference at his residence.
Asked whether he was ready for a CBI probe into the matter as demanded by the Opposition, the Chief Minister said the FIR should first be lodged. Quizzed further by 'The Pioneer' whether he would refer the case to the CBI if the Opposition lodges an FIR on the matter, Chief Minister parried it, saying that he was not supposed to act on what the so-called 'parrots' of Narendra Modi dictate.
"I have been in politics for around four decades. I served at the Centre too as a Cabinet Minister for a number of years. Even then if it is proved that I am an ignoramus as far as the nitty-gritty of leading a State Government is concerned, I had better quit politics. I am not one to cling to power for anything," Rawat asserted.
Asked whether he was contemplating to file a defamation suit on the matter, he averred that he would not be entangled in the Opposition-laid trap. "We would go straight to the people's court instead," he said.
He also circulated a three-page press note that sought to explain the deficit between the amount the State Government had received and the amount the Centre had pledged to give to the disaster-affected Uttarakhand. As per the RTI, the Union Government has released Rs6,766.679 cr under different accounts while the State record says that the State had received Rs5,257.336 crore so far, the release runs.
Rawat said that the Union Government releases money to the State through the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). "This leaves no room for discrepancy between the sum released and the sum received between the Union Government and the State Governments. The Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) audits the account of the State Government and it is tabled in the Vidhan Sabha," he said.
"The Union Government had approved Rs1,100 cr as special package for reconstruction, but the State had received mere Rs775.22 cr. The amount approved for the Centrally-sponsored schemes for reconstruction is Rs1,884.92 cr while the sum received on this count stands at mere Rs243.01 cr. The Centre had sanctioned Rs3,737.34 cr under foreign aided projects reconstruction but the sum the State received is Rs658.20 cr," he said.
Taking a dig at the Centre, the Chief Minister said that in a nut shell, while the UPA Government had approved Rs6,722.26 cr the State received Rs1,676.43 cr. "In NDRF/SDRF, they had approved Rs1,207.87 cr while we received mere Rs691.31 cr. The same discrepancy persists on the approved Rs50 cr for environment research and training centre. There are instances galore which can be cited to buttress the point that the State is away from receiving the funds approved by the Centre," he said while asking the media to lay focus on helping the State get sum pledged by the Centre instead of playing out the Opposition game of nailing the State Government on non-issues.