Bharatiya Janata Party State president Ajay Bhatt was left red- faced during a press conference in Dehradun on Wednesday as he was caught committing a ‘time gaffe’ in his eagerness to spite the previous Congress-helmed Government in matters related to revenue earned through regulated mining, something that the observers ascribe to poor homework in the ruling party regarding important press conferences.
Bhatt claimed that the Trivendra Singh Rawat Government during its short tenure has swelled the State coffer substantially through mining. While contrasting the ‘sterling’ achievement of the Government in the three months from April to June this year with the ‘dismal’ performance during the Congress regime over the corresponding period last year, he dished out statistics. He claimed that while Rs 34.18 crore has been added to the State coffer from mining in Haridwar during the three months it was Rs 69 lakh in the same period in 2016. “ In Udham Singh Nagar, the revenue earned through mining is Rs 11.45 crore while it was Rs 5.58 lakh in the corresponding period last year and in Nainital it is Rs 1.50 crore while it was mere Rs 1.21 lakh in the same period in 2016,” he said while asking why the collection was so dismal in three-month period in 2016 as compared to the collection achieved during the same three-month period under the present Government. “The people of the State owes an answer why things were so and who had patronised those who had looted the state with such impunity,” he said while launching a scathing attack on the Congress which, according to him, was running the state during the specified three-month period.
However, the state chief of the ruling party seemed to have conveniently forgotten the fact that the state was under the President’s Rule during the three-month period he specified to batter the Congress, assuming that the reins of the State were resting with the party at the time. Notably, Uttarakhand was under the Central Rule from March 27 to June 10 2016. “Though Bhatt stopped short of naming the former Chief Minister Harish Rawat it was clear who his target was. However, the fact is that embattled Rawat, ousted from power, was then trying hard to weather the storm he and his party got plunged into following the defection of so many the Congress MlAs,” says a state watcher.
While rolling out the figures, Bhatt said that the present State Government has been trying hard to add to the state exchequer to boost development with the limited resources with the carping opposition attacking it by way of negative opposition politics.
“Instead of playing the role of a constructive opposition as desired by the spirit of the parliamentary democracy, they are trying to show the government in poor light with the leaders resorting to sit-ins here and there and inciting the farmers against the State Government. The role they are playing is reprehensible,” Bhatt averred.
Observers say that the aftermath of two debt-ridden farmers’ suicidal death has put the state government on the back-foot with the opposition using it with vigour to further corner the government. “This explains why the State BJP chief is so scathing in his attack on the Congress while seeking to obfuscate the time he specified to show the previous Congress-helmed government in poor light. If this timing gaffe is not intentional it indicates the poor homework the ruling party is doing regarding the press conferences being convened at the behest of the senior state leaders,” says an observer.