Cong: Dhami surrendered state’s rights
DEHRADUN: The Congress on Saturday accused chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami of surrendering the rights of people of Uttarakhand before his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath on the issue of assets division pending since after the formation of the hill state in 2000.
Congress senior leaders, including party national general secretary and former CM Harish Rawat, party state president Ganesh Godiyal and leader of Opposition Pritam Singh, attacked Dhami during a press conference held at the party state headquarters in Dehradun.
The development came after the three-day UP visit of Dhami during which he held a meeting with Yogi Adityanath on the assets division issue. After the meeting Dhami said the two states have settled the issue.
“The CM after meeting Yogi Adityanath has said that he has settled the issue of the assets distribution between the two states, which was pending for 21 years since the formation of Uttarakhand. But as per the information about the agreement between him and UP CM, it seems that he completely surrendered before the latter,” said Rawat.
He accused Dhami of “keeping aside the rights of the people of Uttarakhand to benefit UP CM Adityanath in UP elections.”
“What we know about the details of the agreement between the two CMs is the fact that Dhami told Yogi that UP can keep all those assets it needs and then give the remaining to Uttarakhand. Also, he also agreed to withdrawing all the pending court cases pertaining to assets division. By agreeing to all these decisions, how can a resident of Uttarakhand trust CM Dhami that he will speak for their rights? His claim of settling the prolonged issue is a blatant lie and baseless,” said Rawat, who is also the president of Congress’s election campaign committee. “Congress party is hurt that the CM failed to put up the state’s stand before UP in a decisive way.”
Rawat also alleged that Dhami agreed to taking assets of the state roadways of undivided UP at a lower amount.
“Earlier as per a settlement it was decided that Uttarakhand will be given assets worth ₹255 crore. But the CM agreed that the state will now take assets worth ₹205 crore. Which CM does this for his state?,” he asked.
“Also, during a previous meeting between the former CM Trivendra Singh Rawat in the present BJP government with Yogi Adityanath in 2018, both had agreed to assets division in a ratio of 75:25 with the majority with UP as it is a bigger state. We had raised a question then also. But the present CM in the recent meeting said there would be a fresh survey of all the assets before the division. Which CM does it while ignoring the rights of his state?”
Rawat also cited the agreement between the two CMs on the Tehri dam issue. “There is a case in the court pertaining to the ownership rights of the Tehri Hydro-electric project situated in Tehri Garhwal district. The whole project is situated in our state using the water from Uttarakhand only. But now with the CM agreeing to withdraw all the cases, Uttarakhand will not have any claim on it, which is just saddening,” said Rawat.
Will hold protests, move court: Godiyal
Attacking the BJP-led state government on the issue, Congress state president Godiyal said that they will hold statewide protests on the issue.
“Congress don’t accept this agreement at all as it goes against the rights of people of Uttarakhand. We have already initiated taking legal action against the agreement and would soon hold large-scale statewide protests on the issue. Will also raise the issue in the state assembly in the next session as what the CM has done is unforgivable,” said Godiyal. “We will submit a memorandum to the Governor raising our concern on Sunday.”