20 BJP legislators court arrest outside CM house

DEHRADUN: Amid sloganeering and high drama, 20 BJP MLAs, including leader of opposition in the state assembly Ajay Bhatt, courted arrest outside the CM’s residence on Monday afternoon.
At 1 pm, the agitating BJP leaders landed at chief minister Harish Rawat’s residence, Bijapur guest house, around noon and attempted to force their way in. The agitating leaders were demanding that the CM should initiate a CBI probe into a case involving a sitting MLA, Arvind Pandey, from Gadarpur.A case was filed against Pandey for allegedly assaulting an official last month.
To tackle any untoward incident, more than 500 policemen were deployed in and around the CM house. The district administration officials and policemen grappled with the garrulous agitators for hours outside the entry gate of the CM’s residence.
Tempers rose as the BJP leaders sat on the road and demanded to meet Harish Rawat. Policemen had cordoned off the area at different places and many watched the pandemonium unfolding at the entry gate around 1.30 pm when BJP leaders were close to the gate. In the ensuing melee, three MLAs — Madan Kaushik, (Haridwar) Rajkumar Thukral (Rudarpur) and Ajay Bhatt (Ranikhet) — suffered minor injuries. They were taken to a city hospital for medical treatment.
BJP leader Ajay Bhatt said: “It is unfortunate that the CM has no time to meet BJP MLAs and instructed the police to do pushing. Our two MLAs have been injured I too have suffered a fracture when they (police) were using force to remove us from the site.”
In a democracy, Bhatt said, the opposition has the right to protest against the government. “But the CM doesn’t believe in democratic decorum and has deployed a police contingent to trample the opposition’s right. The treatment meted out to us is unpardonable,” said Bhatt.
In an extempore speech, the BJP state unit head Tirath Singh Rawat alleged: “The CM has all the time to meet wheeler-dealers, sand mafia and liquor lobby but has no time to meet MLAs who are agitating peacefully. Why weren’t police used against corrupt bureaucrats, criminals and mining mafia,” he said.
During the squabbling between MLAs, police and district administration officilials, CM’s media advisor Surinder Kumar reached the spot to pacify the BJP MLAs. “I have come here on the CM’s instructions to take memorandum from BJP MLAs. The CM was in Haridwar in the morning and at present, he is in Vikas Nagar for meetings.” Commenting on the protests, he said: “If they seriously want to bring constructive change in the state, then their MPs and MLAs must hold protest in Delhi seeking more attention from the PM for Uttarakhand,” said Kumar.