BJP denies intention to destabilise govt

Scotching rumours that BJP might lure MLAs loyal to former Congress heavyweight Satpal Maharaj to grab power in Uttarakhand, the main opposition party today clarified it had no intention to destabilise the Harish Rawat government. "It goes against our policy to destabilise an elected government. If BJP had the intention to destabilise the state government, we could have done so two months back (when Bahuguna government was in trouble)," Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Bhatt told reporters here.

Ruling out any attempt by BJP to create political instability in the hill state, he said the party wants the state government to complete its tenure. "We want the state government to last its term till 2017," Bhatt said.

Ever since Maharaj defected from Congress to BJP last week political circles here have been rife with speculation that the main opposition party might try to usurp power by engineering a split in the CLP which consists of nearly half a dozen MLAs bearing allegiance to the sitting Pauri MP.