BJP planning to use excise department as carrier of liquor in elections– Harish Rawat
Monday, 10 January 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The Uttarakhand Congress has approached the election commission (EC) against what it alleged large scale transfers of the government employees and appointments made on constitutional positions by the government after the declaration of elections in the state in gross violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The party has lodged a formal complaint to the chief electoral officer (CEO) in this regard.
Addressing media persons here on Monday the former chief minister and head of campaign committee of Uttarakhand Congress, Harish Rawat said the EC should take immediate cognizance of the complaint of Congress party and remove banners mentioning schemes of the union and the state governments from the major roads and petrol pumps in the state. He said that the ration shops are distributing ration kits having the pictures of PM Modi and chief minister in Uttarakhand in violation of the norms. Rawat said that large scale transfers in the education department and positions were made by the Dhami government on January 8 and 9 after the imposition of the MCC. He said that the EC should take in position all the files including the computer hard disks of these offices and declare these orders non operational. Questioning the motive of the Dhami government behind these transfers and appointments, Rawat said that the government should have done them before if it was actually serious. He said that when in power the Congress government would cancel all these appointments and transfers and take appropriate action against the officers involved in the issue.
He claimed that the ruling BJP is planning to use the influence of liquor in the upcoming assembly election for its benefit. “Though I don’t have the proof I have information that the excise officers in the districts have been asked to provide liquor to the local leaders of BJP. It means the department which should be preventing the use of illegal liquor would actually act as the carrier of liquor which is unfortunate,’’ he said.
Rawat said that the Congress party would follow all the guidelines of the Cobvid-19 and MCC in the upcoming assembly elections. He said that apart from making more and more use of the online and virtual platforms the Congress party would adopt a one to one contact programme with the electorate. Rawat said that the senior leaders of the Congress party including him would take out ‘ Ekangi Yatra’ in different parts of the state to connect with the people.
