Have chosen Uttarakhand over Harish Rawat: Ex-CM Bahuguna

DEHRADUN: Breaking his week-long silence over the political turmoil in Uttarakhand, former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna said that the nine rebel lawmakers of Congress have chosen the state over Harish Rawat and hence raised the voice against his “dictatorship”. He claimed that the first aim of the rebels was to topple the Harish Rawat government and thereafter decide the future course of action.The Congress leader strongly backed the dismissal of the Harish government and ordering of fresh elections.
In an exclusive interview to TOI, Bahuguna said, “We are loyal soldiers of Congress and have been with the party for many years. We have taken the bold decision with a heavy-heart. It is for the welfare of people of Uttarakhand that we have united and supported the BJP to get rid of this corrupt government.”
Claiming that 36 MLAs were against the Congress in a state which has 70-assembly seat, Bahuguna said, “Rawat does not have answers to our questions and he should step down on moral grounds.”
He accused Rawat of “troubling” him and ND Tiwari during the respective tenures as chief minister of the state. “Be it during the term of senior leader ND Tiwari or during my term as CM, Rawat repeatedly and frequently created hurdles in our path,” he said.
Supporting his point, Bahuguna said that Rawat was upset when he was made the CM in 2012. “It was only because of Rawat’s pressure that Govind Singh Kunjwal was made the Speaker of Uttarakhand assembly. As a result, now the Speaker is acting on the directions given to him by Rawat,” he added.
According to Bahuguna, the members of Rawat camp were calling the shots in Uttarakhand, while the other partymen were left “ignored.” He was of the view that the Speaker as well as the state Congress chief Kishore Upadhyay were members of Rawat camp. “They jointly took all the decisions without even consulting other senior leaders,” said the former CM.
He was surprised that in the last two year not a single meeting of Congress legislators was organised by the CM. “Rawat preferred meeting everyone alone. In my tenure, I used to hold meeting of our legislators in a gap o few months to collect the feedback from them and took stock of the situation,” added Upadhyay.
Bahuguna also said that corruption was rampant in the state during Rawat’s tenure. “The policies and decision related to mining, liquor and proposal to turn tea gardens into a jungle of concrete, have raised several questions over the functioning of the state government,” he added.
On the issue of Congress, Bahuguna maintained that “all nine MLAs were loyal soldiers of the party, who took the decision in the interest of people. On some occasions, I tried to inform the party high command about the developments in the state but nothing was done. After the two year ignorance in Delhi as well as Uttarakhand, we were forced to take the decision.”