Rawat murdered democracy, must be punished: BJP

Hitting out at Harish Rawat, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday questioned the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for delaying in summoning the Uttarakhand Chief Minister in sting CD case, while asserting that the former has murdered democracy by violating Constitutional law.

"I don't understand why the CBI has delayed in taking this decision. Harish Rawat has disrespected democracy. It is viable if he is summoned by the investigation agency. He should be punished for his wrongdoings," BJP leader Shyam Jaju told ANI.

Jaju further said Rawat has murdered democracy and CBI inquiry would help in exposing him.

Echoing similar sentiments, BJP MP Bhagat Singh Koshiyari said: "What Harish Rawat has done is a serious crime under our Constitutional law and he should be punished for it," adding that CBI must work effectively for to bring justice to the people of Uttarakhand.

Meanwhile, Rawat who was summoned by the CBI in the alleged sting CD case will not appear before the investigation agency today.

The Uttarakhand High Court yesterday set aside the Chief Minister's plea seeking a stay on his appearance before the CBI.

Rawat had made an oral plea before the bench to allow him for the time being, not to make an appearance before the CBI as a petition challenging the justification of the CBI probe into the alleged sting CD is already pending before the court.

Setting aside the plea, the court decided that the next date of hearing would be January 7 as fixed earlier.

The CBI had summoned Rawat earlier on December 23.

It had registered the preliminary inquiry on April 29 to probe the video purportedly showing Rawat offering bribes to rebel Congress MLAs in exchange for their support in the assembly floor test.

Rawat had dismissed the video as being faked after it was released by rebel Congress MLAs but later admitted that he was in the clip.