Ahead of the crucial High Court judgment on disqualification of the nine rebel Congress MlAs on Monday, a new purported sting video emerged on Sunday, showing a Congress MlA talking about deposed Chief Minister Harish Rawat using “mining” money to keep his flock together.
Rattled by the development, Rawat hit back, accusing the NDA Government and the BJP of indulging in “politics of blackmail” and alleged that Congress MlAs were being threatened and their phones tapped by Central agencies.
“The Central Government and the BJP are trying to create politics of siege and unrest in the State. I have decided that after the May 10 floor test, I will expose all these blackmailers who are trying to trap people by offering financial and other allurements. We will launch a fight against them under the leadership of Kishore Upadhyaya,” Rawat said.
The video, telecast by a TV channel, showed a conversation between Congress legislator Madan Singh Bisht and rebel Congress MlA Harak Singh Rawat, where Bisht is heard saying that Harish Rawat was giving money he had earned from mining to his MlAs to keep them together.
In the sting Bisht claimed that 1,000 trucks carrying mined material were passing through the State illegally each day and bureaucrats were minting money. “MlAs are earning money from transfer postings. Even Vijaypal Sajwan has been getting Rs1 crore per month from the Chief Minister’s discretionary fund, now he is getting Rs5 lakh per month from Ranjit Rawat. Rawat has to spend Rs35-40 lakh per day on their lawyers fighting his case in court,” said Bisht, adding that Rawat had given Rs25 lakh each to 12 Congress MlAs, with some of them taking Rs1 to Rs2 crore also.
In Delhi, BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari alleged that the video showed that Harish Rawat was “himself involved in horse-trading”.
“Earlier also there was a sting and now also a new sting video has come out in which an MlA is himself saying that the Chief Minister is giving Rs25-30 lakh to his own MlAs to placate them,” he claimed at a Press conference in New Delhi.
“The Chief Minister does not have confidence in his own MlAs and the MlAs do not have faith in their Chief Minister. That is why they are trying to buy MlAs. let’s wait for the floor test and the result will clarify everything” Koshyari said at a Press conference.
Koshyari alleged that the video showed that Rawat was “himself involved in horse-trading” and added that the “Rawat Government was in the throes of death and would be ousted soon.”
The former Uttarakhand Chief Minister demanded an investigation into “the second sting” on Rawat’s alleged purchase of MlAs and debunked Rawat’s charges that the Central Government was “misusing” probe agencies.
“It’s like the pot calling the kettle black. All this should come to an end soon,” he said.
A belligerent Congress hit back, alleging that the BJP was hatching a conspiracy against Harish Rawat ahead of the trust vote. The party also wrote to Governor KK Paul, demanding that BJP leader and Uttarakhand in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya be kept away from the State till the trust vote takes place as he was “trying to vitiate the political atmosphere.”
Harish Rawat alleged that his phones and those of his relatives and aides were being tapped. “Central agencies are being openly misused and not only my MlAs but political leaders are being threatened and harassed,” he said.
“Our MlAs and leaders are getting threatening messages from conduits who are posing as relatives, well-wishers and acquaintances. I am also being kept under surveillance as if I am an anti-national,” Rawat told reporters in Dehradun.
Rawat had faced allegations of horse-trading earlier after a purported sting video allegedly showed him negotiating to bring back rebel legislators. The Supreme Court had on Friday ordered a floor test in Uttarakhand Assembly on May 10 when Harish Rawat will seek a vote of confidence.
State BJP president Ajay Bhatt said the new sting substantiated the earlier CD, in which Rawat was seen giving tempting offers to MlAs for support through middlemen. He appealed to the court to take cognizance of it and urged the CBI to associate this CD with the earlier sting.
Bhatt said the new sting had made it crystal clear that Rawat was a money-maker but projects himself as the caretaker of the public. Bhatt demanded a narco-test of all MlAs whose names have surfaced and an enquiry into their assets also.
Bhatt alleged that in the CD Bisht can be heard saying that Rs 25 lakh each were given to 12 MlAs. He added that Bisht had not being withdrawing money from his salary account and had been meeting his expenses as he was getting Rs 5 lakh per month from Rawat as expenditure allowance.
“This provides enough evidence to prove that Rawat has lost his moral right to seek confidence of the House. As far as Harish Rawat’s allegations about Kailash Vijayvargiya bribing Congress MlAs is concerned, why is Rawat paying huge money to MlAs to ensure their solidarity with him during the floor testIJ”, Bhatt questioned.