Ousted Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Sunday virtually admitted his presence in the >controversial sting CD, but said it was not a crime to meet a journalist or an MLA, dismissing the conversation shown in the video as “meaningless”.
Alleging that the sting operation and the CBI investigation into it were part of a “criminal conspiracy” by the BJP to topple an elected government, Mr. Rawat dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah to put him in jail if he was found in the wrong.
“If any evidence is found against me, like me offering money or post to anybody, hang me at the Clock Tower,” Mr. Rawat, who had so far been insisting that the sting was “fake”, said, addressing party workers at a programme held by the Uttarakhand Congress to mark Labour Day here.
Saving democracy’ “Why should anyone spend Rs. 15 crore for me? The man (journalist) was saying something meaningless to while away my time and I said something to while away his. How does it matter? We keep saying things like this on a daily basis. Does that mean they should be used against us?” Mr. Rawat said, adding that his fight to “save democracy” would continue “come what may.”
Training his guns at the Modi-Shah duo, Mr. Rawat alleged they could “not tolerate” a non-BJP government performing and therefore “toppled” it by hatching a “criminal conspiracy”.
