Days after BJP MLA Durgesh Lal accused a cabinet minister in Uttarakhand of harassing him on caste lines, he on Thursday backtracked from his claims and termed it a “family matter”.
Uttarkashi’s reserved assembly constituency Purola MLA Durgesh Lal had on Tuesday alleged that Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal had been repeatedly abusing him over his Dalit identity.
“Subodh Uniyal has abused me on caste line several times in the past. We are being harassed by local divisional forest officers (DFO) in the patronage of Uniyal,” the MLA said in a viral video.
In the video, he said, “Subodh Uniyal has been harassing me. Should I go to the people or give leg massages to the minister? Here is a DFO. All block development councils in my area have passed censure motions against her. She never participates in government work. I do not know on what basis she has been deployed there and what has she taught the minister.”
He further claimed in the footage that the DFO has stopped all his public interest work. “We are being harassed in the patronage of Subodh Uniyal,” Lal added.
The BJP MLA also protested in front of the forest minister’s residence alleging he was not heard despite being made to wait for hours, adding that his complaint against the forest officer was also not heard by the minister.
Meanwhile, Uniyal met Lal but the meeting resulted in heated argument between the two sides.
As the party legislator’s allegations went viral and caused embarrassment for the Pushkar Dhami government, state BJP leadership and the chief minister pitched in to douse the controversy.
Dhami and state BJP chief Mahendra Bhatt had separate meetings with Lal and Uniyal, and also together to ensure that the warring parties burry their hatchets.
Dhami also constituted a panel to look into the charges.
Following his meeting with Bhatt on Wednesday, Lal said, “It was our internal family matter. Squabbles do happen in a family. I went to the minister with my demands like a child in the family.”