BJP dares Congress to say Harish Rawat sting video was false

Dehradun: Daring Congress to term the "sting operation" on Harish Rawat as false, BJP on Thursday said it was ready to swear by the Ganga and claim the party did not approach any Congress MLA to garner support.

"We are ready to swear by the Ganga in front of the media on the appointed day and time to assert that we did not approach any Congress legislator nor did we make him any offer to buy his support.

Our only condition is that Harish Rawat and PCC president Kishore Upadhyaya should also swear by the holy river and say that the sting operation on the former CM was false," Uttarakhand BJP president Ajay Bhatt told reporters while replying to Rawat's remark that BJP should swear by Ganga if it did not made any offer to Congress MLAs.

Terming Congress as a "lie-generating machine", he said the party's motto is that a lie turns into truth when spoken over again a hundred times.

Rawat had earlier asked the BJP to go to Har ki Pairi in Haridwar and swear by the holy waters of the Ganga to say that the party had not approached Congress MLAs for their support.

With Congress and BJP hurling allegations at each other in the wake of the political storm in the state, two Congress MLAs on April 26 accused the BJP of offering them a bribe of Rs 50 crore to break ranks with Rawat.

Congress MLA from Badrinath Rajendra Bhandari and its MLA from Tharali Jeet Ram alleged they had been offered a bribe of Rs 50 crore, an assembly ticket to a family member and a Rajya Sabha seat by the BJP in exchange for their support.

Reacting to the allegation, BJP had asked the Congress to either produce evidence in support of the charge or offer an unqualified apology for making such wild accusation against the party.