Probe into cases lodged against Ramdev not slowed down: CM

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today refuted the charge that probe into cases lodged against Ramdev during Vijay Bahuguna's tenure had slowed down after he assumed office, saying his priority at present is reconstruction work in the calamity-hit areas.
"My priority at the moment is to rebuild lives in the affected areas. Everything else (investigating cases against Ramdev) may follow later on," Rawat said to a question in this regard at a press conference here.
Over a hundred cases of violation of land laws were lodged against the yoga guru during Bahuguna's tenure and reports had appeared in a section of the press suggesting that probe into the cases had slowed down after the change of guard in February this year.

The Chief Minister, however, refused to subscribe to the view saying putting a fool-proof system in place before the start of the char dham yatra scheduled to begin in May is also one of his preoccupations.
"People should not read much into this. Everything else which deserves the government's attention will be taken up according to priority and importance," he said.
On a statement of Pauri MP Satpal Maharaj who recently defected to the BJP expressing concern over national security, the Chief Minister said the Congress led UPA at the Centre was very sensitive about the matter but "we as a party don't believe in making national security and foreign policy as part of our electoral conduct."

Asked when candidates for the five Lok Sabha seats in the state will be announced, he said he will soon be going to Delhi and an announcement in this regard will be made shortly.