Taking cognizance of the statement of BJP national vice- president and Uttarakhand BJP in-charge Shyam Jaju, who claimed that sting CD is with BJP, state PCC president Kishore Upadhyay said on Thursday that his party will lodge FIR against the BJP leaders, including the national president Amit Shah, by Saturday regarding the liquor sting CD. The saffron party must produce the CD as its national vice president Shyam Jaju claimed that the sting CD that purportedly showed PS to CM Mohammad Shahid making a deal with liquor baron on behalf of the Chief Minister is with BJP. Upadhyay reiterated that if BJP fails to submit the CD they will lodge FIR by Saturday.
It would be pertinent to mention here that Congress had issued a public notice, mentioning that BJP national president Amit Shah, Union Minister Niramala Sitharaman and state leaders, including Teerath Singh Rawat and leader of opposition Ajay Bhatt, had raked up the sting operation issue with a sinister motive to malign Congress- led Uttarakhand.
“Had their motive been otherwise they would have given the master CD to the investigation officer to facilitate a right probe. Once the sting operation was revealed by the Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Chief Minister Harish Rawat instantly constituted an inquiry led by principal secretary to CM Omprakash and asked DGP to send the master CD for forensic examination. Things were transparent from the end of the State Government,” he said.
“We are now taking legal opinion from legal experts with Jaju having claimed that his party has the master CD under its possession. We must explore the legal avenues with the matter being a serious one. We will have to take opinions of cyber law experts as well. Hopefully, we would complete the process in the next one or two days. Thereafter, we would lodge FIR in police station,” the state Congress chief said.
Notably, Union Minister Sitharaman had revealed the CD before the media at a press conference in Delhi on 22 July. It was followed by the state BJP leaders led by state BJP president and former CM Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank marching to Rajbhawan to submit a copy of the sting CD along with a memorandum to the Governor demanding a CBI inquiry.
After Rajbhwan forwarded the CD to the State Government for inquiry Chief Minister stepped in, saying that it was not possible for them to send the CD for forensic examination unless and until any responsible person, including BJP leaders, came forward to give the master CD of the sting.
It seems CM under fire sought to take breathing space, knowing that it would be difficult for BJP to handover the master CD for several reasons.
However, BJP vice- president Jaju having claimed to have the CD under the party’s custody lent a new twist to the raging controversy. It would be interesting to see how the matter would unfold in the coming days with State Congress pressing BJP to handover the original CD to the probe officer to clear decks for a full-fledged inquiry.
However, the observers say things would hang fire till the time the matter can be milked politically by both the parties. “Ultimately, it is likely to fizzle out in time, reducing the bluster to sound and fury, signifying nothing,” said a observer.