Shah should apologise to the people of Uttarakhand: Cong

Ahead of BJP president Amit Shah's visit to Haridwar tomorrow, ruling Congress party in Uttarakhand today asked him to apologise to the people for "toppling" a democratically-elected government in the state and meting out a "stepmotherly treatment" to it by curtailing its budget.
Accusing BJP of conspiring to "murder democracy" and neglecting Uttarakhand's development by imposing massive cuts on budgetary allocations, state Congress chief Kishore Upadhyay said leaders of the saffron party have "lost the face" to come to the state.
He was addressing a monthly meeting of the state Congress unit here.
"They (BJP) murdered democracy here by toppling an elected government. They imposed heavy cuts on our budget. Shah should atone for his party's sins by tendering an apology to the people of the state," said Upadhyay.

Accusing BJP leaders of "doing nothing" in the interests of Uttarakhand in spite of increasing the frequency of their visits to the state, he said 12 central ministers came to here in recent months but none of them made a single announcement benefiting the state.
Upadhyay also charged BJP leaders with trying to "vitiate the atmosphere of communal amity" in Uttarakhand by issuing "provocative statements" and asked them to refrain from their "efforts to create another Dadri, Muzaffarnagar or Kairana" in the hill state.
Shah, who will visit Kedarnath and Badrinath tomorrow, is scheduled to address a rally in Haridwar.