Rebel Congress legislators of Uttarakhand yesterday released a video of an alleged sting operation of Chief Minister Harish Rawat here and alleged he was indulging in horse-trading to save his government, prompting the Bharatiya Janata Party to call for the dismissal of the state government.
The video showed the chief minister allegedly offering money to legislators to vote for his government in the vote of confidence mandated by Governor K K Paul before March 28.
Releasing the video, rebel legislator Harak Singh Rawat said the chief minister was trying to bribe the nine rebel Congress legislators and some from the BJP. He also alleged that the rebels have been receiving life threats.
Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal had served notice to the nine legislators, seeking their responses by yesterday on why they should not be disqualified from membership of the assembly under the anti-defection law for violating the party discipline and aligning with the opposition BJP.
“There is an attempt by the CM to bribe the nine rebel MLAs and few other BJP MLAs. The Uttarakhand government is indulging in horse-trading of the MLAs,” Harak Singh Rawat said.
He also said that the sting video clearly showed that the chief minister was talking of offering Rs50mn to each legislator to return to the party and was also heard saying “chalo maamla saste mein nipat gaya (the issue has been settled at a cheap price).”
“We have expressed concern over our security to the government of India as we are getting threats. We’ve asked them to make arrangements for us. We have also requested the governor to immediately dismiss the corrupt government of the mafias,” he said.
“We have also written to President Pranab Mukherjee to take objection to the whole situation. There is a constitutional crisis in the state.”
Soon after the video was released, the chief minister held a press conference and accused the journalist who conducted the sting operation, of conniving with the opposition parties to “destablise his government and bring a bad name to the state.” The BJP and the people behind the sting operation, he charged, were “immoral and greedy”.
The nine Congress legislators led by Harak Singh had rebelled against the chief minister some weeks back when they sought a vote division on the floor of the house. The speaker rejected the demand.