File picture of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat.
Under attack over the alleged corruption of three of its top leaders, the BJP today released what it described as a sting that establishes a scam in Uttarakhand, where the Congress is in power with Harish Rawat as Chief Minister.
"The Uttarakhand Chief Minister and his Personal Secretary (PS) were involved in a liquor scam and loot during Uttarakhand floods," said the BJP's Nirmala Sitharaman, referring to the flashfloods which lashed the hill state in 2013, killing at least 6,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to the region's famous temples stranded.
The BJP says that the sting shows the Chief Minister's personal secretary negotiating bribes for changes to the state's policy on the sale of alcohol. "The policy has just been decided... how can it be changed already?" said Mr Rawat to NDTV; but within an hour, his aide, Mohd Shahid, had been suspended; an inquiry against him will be completed within 60 days, said the Congress.
The party also dismissed the BJP's call for Mr Rawat's resignation as Chief Minister.
In Parliament, the government led by the BJP is confronting a united attack from the opposition, which is demanding the resignation of Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje for extending favours to tainted cricket mogul Lalit Modi; the Congress is adamant that it will disrupt proceedings unless they are removed, along with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, whose government is engulfed by the Vyapam or job recruitment scam.
The government has ruled out their resignations. The stand-off has meant that Parliament has been adjourned early for the first two days of its monsoon session.