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Uttarakhand CM slams BJP for levelling graft charges against govt
Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Monday dismissed as baseless the allegations of corruption levelled against him by BJP national president Amit Shah and announced he would soon go to the people to let them adjudicate on the issue.
Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Monday dismissed as baseless the allegations of corruption levelled against him by BJP national president Amit Shah and announced he would soon go to the people to let them adjudicate on the issue.
“I will start having interactions with intellectuals on the issue of my or my government’s alleged involvement in corruption, from Dehradun on July 2,” Rawat told a press conference. “I am starting the initiative so that the people could adjudicate and decide for themselves on the baseless allegations of corruption being levelled against us.”
He said he would continue to have similar interactions with intellectuals as well as common people in other cities.
The chief minister came down heavily on Shah for accusing him and his government of engaging in corruption.
The BJP chief was on a three-day visit to Uttarakhand during which he addressed a rally in Haridwar and attended the party’s state council meeting, besides holding meetings with senior party leaders and visiting Char Dham.
“Through the statements the BJP chief issued during his visit, he tried to create an impression as if nothing is happening in this state except corruption,” Rawat said.
Rawat dared the BJP to cite a single example where he or his government’s involvement in corruption had been proved. He accused Shah of dodging the core issues facing the resource-crunched mountain state by repeatedly raising the bogey of corruption during his visit.
“The way Shah made the false allegations of corruption against me and my government, first at the BJP’s Haridwar rally and later at its state council meeting at Haldwani, shows that he is suffering from election phobia,” he said.
Rawat said the Congress party welcomes the national leaders of different parties visiting the state but regretted that Shah wasted his visit in just hurling abuses against the government and making false allegations of corruption against it. “It was a highly disappointing visit as Shah kept mum on the massive financial losses the state has been incurring owing to the Centre’s decision to change the funding patterns,” Rawat alleged while referring to the BJP-led NDA government.
He also lambasted Shah for not uttering even a word on the Centre’s silence on the state government’s request for green bonus. “He (Shah) also kept silence on the portions of funds to be released by the Centre for rebuilding of the Chardham that was left ravaged by the flash floods in 2013,” he said.
