Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat to withdraw 'political cases' against BJP members

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat’s announcement that his government will withdraw political cases against BJP members has stirred up a hornet’s nest in the state’s political circles.

During a function to mark BJP’s 37th foundation day on Thursday, Rawat said that all cases “of a political nature” filed against party members would be withdrawn. Though he did not mention which cases would be considered under the category, his words were taken to construe that all cases registered against ruling party members in the last five years would be withdrawn.

Protesting against this, Congress state chief Kishore Upadhyay said on Friday that this was “a clear attempt by the BJP government to give a clean chit to party leaders like Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi, who is accused of heading the protest in which police horse Shaktiman lost its leg”. The horse eventually died.


“It appears that Rawat has forgotten that he is the CM of the state. He is still behaving like a BJP worker. Just few weeks are left for the Char Dham yatra, the CM and his team of ministers need to focus on the pilgrimage rather than raking up such issues,” Upadhyay said. He added that during the BJP's previous rule from 2007 to 2012, a number of cases had been registered against Congress members too. “Many cases were filed against me as well as senior leaders like Tilak Raj Behad and Dinesh Agarwal. We were booked for raising our voice against the wrongdoings of the then BJP government,” Upadhyay claimed.

BJP leaders welcomed the CM’s move. Vinay Goel, the party’s state spokesperson, told TOI, “Now the truth will come out before the people. Our Mussoorie MLA had not even touched the police horse and a case was registered against him purely due to political pressure. There are a number of other BJP members, too, who were booked for holding protests against the Congress government and its failures. We appreciate the decision of the CM.”