BJP today said Chief Minister Harish Rawat was averse to Prime Minister Narendra Modi laying the foundation stone of a Rs 12,000 crore all weather road project for Chardham here tomorrow because it exposed his "lie" about the Centre being indifferent towards the state.
"Though the PM is coming to lay the foundation stone of such an ambitious project, the CM seems unhappy about it. His displeasure is not without a reason. It exposes the lie he has spread about the Centre being indifferent to the hill state and not releasing funds for projects meant for its welfare," Pradesh BJP president Ajay Bhatt told reporters here.
However, people are extremely excited about the Prime Minister's visit and his rally at the Parade Ground here which has been named Parivartan Maharally, Bhatt said.
He also attacked Rawat for accusing the Centre of using CBI as an instrument against him at a time when Assembly elections were round the corner.
He said the ongoing probe into the sting CD by the apex agency were based on the Governor's suo motu recommendations and the Centre had nothing to do with it.
"I don't understand why the Chief Minister targets BJP central leadership every time he is summoned by the CBI in the CD case. The ongoing probe was recommended by the Governor when the state was under President Rule. The Centre has got nothing to do with it," the BJP leader said.
He also claimed that the chief minister's own conduct after the CD came into public domain gave rise to suspicion.
"The cabinet's decision to revoke the CBI probe after the CM's reinstatement and his approaching the high court subsequently challenging justification of the top agency investigating the case made his role more suspect," Bhatt said.
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Rubbishing Rawat's charge that the CBI was being used by the Centre against him as an act of vendetta, Bhatt alleged that the CM himself was more in the habit of taking such measures against his political opponents.
He alleged that Rawat had put several BJP legislators behind the bars. "How can he hurl the vendetta charge at us?" he asked.
He also asked the CM why the alleged killer of former Khanpur MLA Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion's father-in-law was released at the time of elections.
Champion was one of the nine Congress MLAs who had rebelled against Rawat and joined BJP after being disqualified by the Speaker under the anti-defection law.
