With the Supreme Court maintaining a status quo on President’s rule in Uttarakhand, deposed chief minister Harish Rawat on Wednesday said he has full faith in the judiciary and will accept the apex court’s decision.
“I have total faith in the judiciary. We will embrace whatever the apex court finally rules in case of Uttarakhand,” he told reporters in his brief reaction to the Supreme Court order directing maintenance of status quo on the presidential promulgation in the State.
Echoing Mr. Rawat, senior party leader and former minister Indira Hridayesh also said her party respects the courts of law.
“We respect the judgement of courts. We believe in guarding the Constitution,” she said.
Similar reactions came from opposition BJP too with the party’s state president Ajay Bhatt saying, “We have faith in the Supreme Court and whatever final verdict it gives will be acceptable to us.”
The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended its stay on the quashing of the President’s Rule while hearing the Centre’s appeal against the Uttarakhand High Court judgement revoking central rule in the hill State.
Meanwhile, rubbishing allegation by two Congress MLAs that the BJP had offered them a bribe of up to Rs 50 crore to switch their loyalty, the saffron party on Wednesday asked them to produce evidence to substantiate the charge or offer an unqualified apology.
Alleging that a sudden eviction from power had caused most Congress leaders to lose their mental balance, the pradesh BJP president said they are levelling “wild allegations” like this against the party to divert public attention from real issues.
“Their own former CM was caught live on camera negotiating a money deal to buy back disgruntled party MLAs.”
An earlier sting CD had shown a top CMO official negotiating a bribery deal with a liquor baron. It is in a bid to divert attention from these that they (Congress MLAs) are making unfounded allegations against BJP.
“It seems a sudden ouster from power has knocked them out of their senses and they are making meaningless noises to confuse people,” Mr. Bhatt told PTI.
“Even Harish Rawat had accused the BJP of depositing Rs 25 crore into the accounts of nine rebel MLAs which prompted Vijay Bahuguna to slap a court case against him,” he said, adding it seems Congress leaders have lost their head.
Alleging that buying and selling is Congress’s culture not BJP’s, Mr. Bhatt said the stand is vindicated by an Italian court’s latest order which has “indicted” top Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh in the AgustaWestland helicopter deal.
Chief BJP spokesman Munna Singh Chauhan also reacted sharply to the allegations by the two Congress MLAs saying they should either come up with proof to substantiate their charge or offer an unqualified apology for making a “baseless allegation” against the party.
“They are just hurling a wild allegation. They should produce evidence to prove the charge or offer an unqualified apology immediately,” Mr. Chauhan told PTI.
Congress MLA from Badrinath Rajendra Bhandari and its MLA from Tharali Jeet Ram had on Tuesday alleged that they had been offered a bribe of up to Rs 50 crore, an Assembly ticket to a family member and a Rajya Sabha seat by the BJP in exchange for their support.
Said to be close to BJP heavyweight Satpal Maharaj, the two legislators asserted they were devoted soldiers of the Congress party and cannot be bought. PTI
Substantiate bribe charge or tender apology, BJP tells the Congress legislators
