Reacting sharply to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) charge that over Rs 1,509 crore released by the Centre for disaster relief in Uttarakhand was illegally siphoned off, Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Friday said he will resign from politics if the party produces documentary evidence to substantiate the allegation.
“I strongly refute the charge as absolutely unfounded. It is a lie concocted to defame the state government. If the BJP produces documents to prove the charge I will resign from politics,” Rawat said addressing a press conference here.
Asserting that the allegations were part of a conspiracy hatched by the BJP to bring disrepute to the state government, Rawat asked the party leadership to apologise to the people of the state for spreading such lies and damaging its reputation.
Soon after taking over recently as the state BJP president Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Bhatt had alleged, citing information obtained under RTI, that Rs 1509.3436 crore allocated by the Centre to the state government for disaster relief had been illegally siphoned off. He had also written to Governor Krishna Kant Paul demanding a probe by the CBI or the Vigilance Department into the anomaly to bring out the truth.