Uttarakhand Polls: BJP’s first list of candidates promotes dynastic politics, says CM Harish Rawat

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Tuesday said that BJP’s first list of candidates for the state “promotes dynastic politics” and is full of defectors against whom the saffron party itself used to level corruption charges at one time.

Rawat said he was surprised to note that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stern public posturing against dynastic politics had conveniently been ignored by his own party.

“Prime minister is advising partymen to stay away from promoting dynastic politics whereas his own party’s list of candidates for Uttarakhand seems to promote the malaise,” Rawat told reporters.

The party’s first list of 64 candidates includes former chief minister B C Khanduri’s daughter Ritu Khanduri Bhushan, former CM Vijay Bahuguna’s son Saurabh, Congress turncoat Amrita Rawat’s husband Satpal Maharaj besides the father-son duo of Yashpal Arya and Sanjeev Arya who joined the BJP hours before it announced their candidature.

Without naming Arya, Rawat said it was surprising that a party which claimed not inducting anyone without probing their antecedents had rewarded someone with two tickets within “four hours of taking him into the party”.

Referring to Congress turncoats fielded by BJP, he said they were the same leaders on whom the party had slapped charges like disaster scam, seed scam, land scam, polyhouse scam, mining scam in Dabka and Kosi rivers, depositing huge amount in demonetised currency in cooperative banks, and stalled Vidhan Sabha proceedings for 12 days.

“It is strange that the same leaders are now running the BJP in Uttarakhand,” Rawat said.