Six months of Harish Rawat's rule highly disappointing: BJP

DEHRADUN: Describing the last six months under Harish Rawat's chief ministership as "highly disappointing", Opposition BJP in Uttarakhand today alleged that the morale of wrongdoers has got a boost under his rule in the calamity-hit state where ground realities remain unchanged.

Attributing Congress' recent victory from all three Assembly seats in Uttarakhand bypoll to "misuse of government machinery", Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Bhatt said all that the state has witnessed in the last six months of Rawat rule is "brazen loot of the state's resources by land, liquor and mining mafia with the government's tacit approval".

Accusing the state government of changing the excise policy of the state overnight without taking Cabinet's nod, Bhatt said it was part of a secret deal with the liquor mafia.

"It was an under-table agreement clinched by the state government at a time when the model code of conduct was in force to benefit the liquor mafia," Bhatt told reporters in Ranikhet.

He also charged the state government with selling off precious land of State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIDCUL) to the land mafia at throw-away prices and being a "silent witness" to illegal mining going on.

The BJP leader also alleged that despite a year after the last year's deluge, people in affected areas are still without a roof.