BJP-led Central government was after my blood from day one: Harish Rawat

Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Sunday slammed BJP-led Central government saying that from day one they were after his blood.

Addressing the press, Rawat said, "Centre refused to give funds to Uttarakhand government, not even for Kedarnath temple of Kumbh mela in Haridwar. The Governor was threatened publicly in a press conference in Delhi."

He also said, "This is murder of our democracy and the constitution," adding, "This is the murder of values of Ambedkar ji on his 125th birth anniversary."

"Most upsetting was that I had to make compromise with such a leader (Harak Singh Rawat) who used to value money above everything. The fact that we decided to bring legislation to seize unnamed properties only stimulated the process. Harak Singh ji came to me twice and asked me not to bring legislation to seize unnamed properties," Rawat said. 

"A money deal was constructed, some people say in Rs 1000 crore, some say in Rs 500 crore. We will meet the Governor tomorrow. We will take support to all legal options we have before us. This will be decided by our advocates. In fact I was heading a very delicate majority, if Congress comes back to power, will increase Vidhan Sabha seats from 70 to 90," he further said.

"People are saying that when they couldn't find 9 MLAs they finalised the deal in Rs 25 crore each for some MLAs in the end," Rawat said.

Uttarakhand was today brought under President's rule by the Centre on grounds of "breakdown of governance" in a controversial decision which comes in the wake of a political crisis triggered by a rebellion in the ruling Congress.

President Pranab Mukherjee signed the proclamation under Art 356 of the Constitution dismissing the Congress government headed by Harish Rawat and placing the Assembly under suspended animation this morning on the recommendation of the Union Cabinet.

The Cabinet had held an emergency meeting here last night presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had cut short a visit to Assam to return to the capital for the purpose.

The Cabinet considered several reports received from Governor KK Paul, who had described the political situation as volatile and expressed apprehensions over possible pandemonium during the scheduled trial of strength in the state Assembly tomorrow.

The dismissal of the Rawat government now renders tomorrow's confidence vote infructuous.

The Congress denounced the decision calling it a "murder of democracy" and said it showed that BJP did not believe in democracy.

(With PTI inputs)