Ramdev cries foul, says 'will challenge Congress openly if I want to'

Rubbishing all allegations levelled against him by the Congress, yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Friday said that he has nothing to do with the ongoing political crisis in Uttarakhand, adding that if he had to challenge the grand old party then he would do it openly.

Ramdev told ANI that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi should not blame him for their incompetence while advising the mother-son duo to bring the present political instability in the hilly state under control.

"I have nothing to do with the political crisis which the Congress is suffering in Uttarakhand. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi should take stock of the situation in Uttarakhand and control it. I have never done anything under cover or behind anyone's back, I have always been blatant in my speech and open about my endeavour. If I want to stand against Congress or challenge it, I will do it openly," he said.

"Anyway I have withdrawn myself from politics. Currently, I am concentrating on promoting yoga and ayurved. The Congress should behave sensibly, neither should they provoke me uselessly nor they should level false allegations against me," he added.

The yoga guru categorically stated that he did not believe in politics of revenge.

"As far as the cases on Patanjali are concerned, they are presently in court and no political can do anything in that. I have full trust in the judiciary of the country. I have never done anything wrong. So, why will anything wrong happen to me? Patanjali cases have nothing to do with the ongoing political crisis in the country," he said.

Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress president Kishore Upadhyay yesterday dragged Ramdev and accused him of hatching a conspiracy jointly with BJP leadership to topple the state government in Uttarakhand.

The Congress alleged that the yoga guru and BJP chief Amit Shah had chalked a plot together to dislodge the state government and the rebellion against Harish Rawat by the party's MLAs was a result of the same strategy.

Upadhyay had also claimed that that he had enough evidence to substantiate his allegations.