This follows a sting video aired by the BJP showing him involved in a liquor scam during the 2013 Uttarakhand floods. Backing his party colleague, Congress leader Vijai Bahuguna said, “The authenticity of video should be probed”. The BJP also alleged that the chief minister changed the excise policy to help private agencies.
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However, Rawat told NDTV that the authenticity of the sting operation has to be checked.
The CD does not feature Rawat, but a person whom the Minister claimed was Shahid talking to alleged dealers.
Uttarakhand CM’s aide suspended after video shows he was seeking commission; Rawat says charges are “false, baseless”.
The BJP accused Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat of making money by tweaking liquor policy to benefit private distributors and demanded his resignation. That scam was worth several hundred crores, she added.
The Chief Minister had brought Shahid, an IAS officer from Gujarat cadre, to Uttarakhand and it is very clear with whose “support” he is doing these “bargainings”, he said.
As both the Houses continued to be disrupted due to protests by Congress MPs, two Union ministers – Sarbananda Sonowal and Kiren Rijiju – launched another salvo at the party by raising the conviction of former Arunachal Pradesh CM P K Thungan in a graft case.
Congress spokesperson Gaurav Gogoi said the Uttarakhand government has decided to conduct a civil and criminal investigation and it will be completed in 60 days.
Rawat denied all the charges and called it a political stunt of the BJP. There were no changes in FL2 (foreign liquor) policy because it is in the hands of public sector undertakings (PSU).
The Delhi court also remanded them in judicial custody.
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“Such is the extent of corruption of the Congress that the era of (then prime minister) Indira Gandhi is over but corruption cases of those times are still existing”, Patra said. “But when you talk of the Congress in State after State, there are skeletons abound, waiting to tumble out of their closet”.
