Uttarakhand Rebel Lawmakers Release Sting Video On Harish Rawat

New Delhi: Rebel Congress legislators of Uttarakhand today released a sting video of Chief Minister Harish Rawat in New Delhi, alleging that he was indulging in horse-trading to save his government.

In the video, Mr Rawat seen talking purportedly to the owner of a news channel about lawmakers being brought into his side through bribery. While bribe is not directly mentioned, certain figures are mentioned. NDTV cannot vouch for the authenticity of the video.

Releasing the video, rebel Congress legislator Harak Singh Rawat said the chief minister was trying to bribe the nine rebel Congress legislators and few other BJP legislators. He also alleged that the rebel legislators have been receiving life threats.

Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal had served notice to nine rebel Congress legislators, seeking their responses by March 26 on why they should not be disqualified from membership of the house for violating the party discipline and aligning with the opposition BJP.

"There is an attempt by the CM to bribe the nine rebel MLAs and few other BJP MLAs. The Uttarakhand government is indulging in horse-trading of the MLAs," said Harak Singh Rawat. "We have expressed concern over our security to the Centre as we are getting threats. We have also requested the Governor to immediately dismiss such a corrupt government of the mafias."

Mr Rawat further said they had written a letter to the President Pranab Mukherjee to take objection to the whole situation. "There is a constitutional crisis in the state," he said.

Nine Congress legislators led by Mr Rawat had rebelled against the chief minister couple of weeks ago when they sought a vote division on the floor of the house.  The speaker had rejected the demand.

Before the crisis, the Congress had 36 legislators in the 70-member Assembly. The ruling party also has the support of six members of the Progressive Democratic Front, while the opposition BJP has 28 legislators.