Senior Congress leader and former minister Harak Singh Rawat has alleged that he, as a forest minister in the BJP government in Uttarakhand, had contributed Rs one crore to Rs 30 crore fixed deposit (FD) corpus that the Uttarakhand BJP has constituted to finance organisational activities. The BJP, on the other hand, discounted the charges and asked Rawat to approach authorities for a probe into his allegations.
Harak Singh Rawat was the forest minister in Trivendra Singh Rawat’s Government when this scam allegedly happened. Rawat has now publicly stated that both central agencies have cleared him of any involvement.
A viral video statement of Harak Singh Rawat on social media claimed he collected more than Rs one crore from the mining mafia to contribute to the ruling party’s Rs 30 crore fixed deposit bank corpus to run the state organisation.
The Congress leader said the contribution by him to the BJP was made when he was the forest minister in Pushkar Singh Dhami’s first tenure before the assembly elections in 2022.
“Mining policy has filled the BJP’s coffer. If I say the truth, I was the forest minister when the FD was created for the BJP. I also contributed more than a crore to it. Everything was brought from the mining mafia to hand it out to the BJP. I have also been probed for this,” alleged Harak Singh Rawat, who is already facing an ED probe for financial irregularities as a former forest minister.
Continuing his attack against the ruling party, Rawat said, “ED must investigate who all have contributed to the BJP’s Rs 30 crore FD made in the bank. The entire BJP will be in jail if ED investigates it with honesty. I went to Haldwani and Ramnagar as a mining minister and asked all the contractors to bring Rs 10 lakh each.”
He added, “I, myself, asked contractors for the cheques. I am also guilty in this matter.” Talking further, the former BJP minister stated, “I am not against mining, but it must take place with proper technique. Once the debris is deposited, sand and gravel must be removed from riverbeds with proper techniques so that a depth is created in the middle and neighbouring habitats are not harmed.”
He further alleged that mining permits were awarded in haste, thwarting norms. “It’s similar to the Rishikesh land scam that took place in Nishank’s tenure. A letter to allocate land was sent by the chief minister to the Haridwar Development Authority (HDA). HDA prepared a report and sent it back, following which land was allotted on the same day. The same has happened in the mining permits here,” said Harak Singh Rawat.
On the other hand, BJP leaders in Uttarakhand have discounted Rawat’s allegations as unfounded and an effort to divert the attention of the people from the ED probe he is facing. The ruling party asked Rawat to provide proof and reach out to the authorities for investigation. “Rawat’s allegations are baseless and a blatant lie. BJP doesn’t patronise corruption and criminals like the Congress does. The BJP gets its records audited annually according to the constitutional norms and informs the agencies concerned. The BJP doesn’t take accusations of a person who keeps defecting political parties, has several corruption cases pending, and has lost credibility in the public, seriously,” said the state BJP president, Mahendra Bhatt.
The party’s state media in charge and spokesperson Manvir Chauhan said, “Harak Singh Rawat is facing serious corruption charges and an ongoing ED probe. His false allegations are nothing but an attempt to divert public attention from the probe against him and earn public sympathy. He wants to revive his dead political career. If he has anything to say, Rawat must go to the authorities concerned.”
It’s significant that Harak Singh Rawat was the forest minister during Dhami’s first tenure before the state elections in 2022. He resigned from the party and joined the BJP before the elections. Earlier, Rawat had defected to the BJP from the Congress in 2016 under the leadership of former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and eight other MLAs.