Cong accuses BJP of trying to 'stall' U'khand govt'sfunctioning

DEHRADUN: The stand-off between the two “power centres” in Uttarakhand-- chief minister Harish Rawat and governor KK Paul-- has stalled several key government decisions, including the appointment of Lokayukta, with the ruling Congress accusing the BJP of “trying to disturb the government’s smooth functioning.”
Besides the Lokayukta file, which the governor has returned twice, Paul has also objected to land being cleared for a private university as well as raised questions over the appointment of the vice-chancellor of a university.
While the BJP has hailed the governor for not acting as a mere "rubber stamp", some Congress leaders have expressed apprehension over the way “proposals of the government were being shot down by Raj Bhawan.”
A war of words is on between the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP over the appointment of Lokayukta.
Former chief minister and senior BJP leader B C Khanduri, during whose tenure the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill was drafted on the lines of Anna Hazare’s Lokpal Bill and was passed unanimously by the state assembly, said that he was “aghast at the hasty manner in which chief minister Rawat is pushing for his "yes-man" to be appointed as the Lokayukta”
“In the last five years, the Congress government in Uttarakhand made no attempt to implement the Lokayukta Bill even when it was unanimously passed by the state assembly but now there is an undue haste to fill the post,” claimed Khanduri.
But, CM Rawat said that all the rules were followed.
“The appointment has been done following all the norms and procedure of the selection. But the file is still stuck. In a nutshell, it is the BJP which is trying to disturb the government’s smooth functioning in Uttarakhand.”
The rift between the two offices came to the fore on October 2, when chief minister Rawat skipped the governor’s function of awarding the families of the freedom fighters and martyrs, held in Raj Bhawan.
“The fact that the CM did not turn up at the event and preferred to stay away from the Raj Bhawan function was surprising because he was invited officially to be there,” said a senior government official.
The BJP, however, found nothing wrong in the governor’s move.
“He (the governor) is a constitutional authority and well within his powers to seek clarification regarding all the decisions taken by the state government. By blaming us (the BJP) for this (returning files) the Congress is unnecessarily politicising its own administrative mistakes,” said a BJP leader, on condition of anonymity.
Paul had first returned the Lokayukta appointment file in August and the same file was returned a few days ago, raising questions over the profile of the candidate - a retired high court judge.
The governor had questioned that how a candidate with a "tainted background" was shortlisted for the post.
Two more bills-- Himalayan Garhwal University Bill and Raas Bihari Subharti Bill-- were returned by the Paul in August.