Uttarakhand crisis: CM Harish Rawat claims sting video is fake

Claiming that the video CD of a purported sting operation, circulated by the rebel Congress MLAs, was fake, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Saturday cast doubt about the credentials of the man behind it and demanded a probe into his antecedents.

"The sting CD being shown on the news channels is fake. The reputation of the man behind it who is associated with a private news channel is not hidden from anyone. His antecedents must be probed," Rawat said at a hurriedly-called press conference at his residence here, soon after the sting CD was released before the media in Delhi.

Even though he called the video "false", Rawat said if at all it indicates something, it is that the rebel MLAs have aligned with BJP for money.

Holding Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and the rebel MLAs responsible for the political crisis in Uttarakhand, Rawat said the CD was just an offshoot of an unholy alliance between these people who had come together to destabilise a democratically-elected government and derail the process of development in the state.

Refusing to take any question from reporters, the Chief Minister said the matter is before constitutional authorities and it would not be appropriate for him to comment on it further.