New video sting bites Harish Rawat

Dehradun/New Delhi: Ahead of the May 10 trust vote in Uttarakhand, a new purported sting video targeting deposed Chief Minister Harish Rawat emerged on Sunday, prompting BJP to accuse him of trying to “buy” legislators.

However, Mr Rawat accused the NDA government and the BJP of indulging in “politics of blackmail” and creating “unrest” in the hill state. He also alleged that the Congress MLAs were being threatened and their phones tapped by Central agencies.

A purported sting video targeting Mr Rawat which allegedly showed a conversation between rebel Congress MLA Harak Singh Rawat and Congress legislator Madan Singh Bisht was released by a private news channel in Delhi.

Mr Bisht is purported to have said in the video that Mr Harish Rawat was giving the money he had earned from mining to his MLAs to keep his flock together. BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari alleged that the video showed that Mr Harish Rawat was “himself involved in horse-trading”.

“Earlier, there was a sting and now also a new sting video has come out in which the MLA is himself saying that the Chief Minister is giving Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh to his own  MLAs to placate them,” he claimed at a press conference in New Delhi. The Congress hit back alleging that BJP was hatching a conspiracy against Mr Harish Rawat.