Uttarakhand: Rawat fumes over false allegations by BJP

BJP's Ajay Bhatt had raised objections to Rawat visiting his office, taking administrative decisions and disposing of files despite the poll code in force.

Dehradun, Feb 28: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Tuesday asked the BJP to specify where he had gone against the EC's guidelines instead of accusing him of disposing official files in violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

Claiming that he fully respects the Election Commission's guidelines as Chief Minister and was only doing his constitutional duty, Rawat said the state BJP president, Ajay Bhatt, was levelling unfounded allegations against him of violating the Model Code of Conduct and he should apologise to the people.

Last week at a press conference, Bhatt had raised objections to Rawat visiting his office, taking administrative decisions and disposing of files despite the poll code in force.

Asking the BJP leader to cite specific instances, he said there was no ban on him to work as the Chief Minister on things like disasters, forest fires and sending utilisation certificates to the Centre for this fiscal, ending March 31.

Rawat said there was no violation of the poll code and asserted that he was doing only his constitutional duty by asking the Centre to clear funds for various projects.

PTI