Sting CD case: BJP says CM Harish Rawat 'shying away' from probe

DEHRADUN: BJP today hit back at Chief Minister Harish Rawat for his remark that he was ready for a judicial probe into the sting video episode if BJP produced the original CD and said the Uttarakhand CM was once again "shying away" from a high-level probe into the matter.

"The chief minister is once again trying to mislead people and avoid a probe as he knows very well his government is steeped in corruption," Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Ajay Bhatt said in a statement here.

"When the man who made the sting video has accepted that he did it to expose corruption in government, why is the chief minister making the same statement about BJP again and again?" Bhatt asked.

"It is obvious that he is shying away from a probe under one excuse or the other," he said.

Rawat had said yesterday that he was ready for a judicial probe into the sting CD episode if main Opposition BJP produced the original CD, the instruments used in the sting and the documents in support of its allegations.

"We are ready for a judicial enquiry into the sting CD episode only if the original CD is produced by BJP which has been making only allegations till now. If the Opposition party is able to tell who made the CD, where and when, and the tools used in its making then we have no objection in instituting a judicial probe into it," Rawat had said yesterday.

Terming all his remarks as "evasive" tactics, Bhatt said, "Answer to the CM's queries is simple. Have a CBI probe ordered into it and you would get to know who made the CD where and when."

The state unit BJP has been vociferously demanding the Chief Minister's resignation, besides action against the official featured in it and a CBI probe into the entire sting CD episode.