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Chaos in House during Governor's address

C. K. Chandramohan

Opposition seeks action against Excise and Tourism Minister

DEHRA DUN: The Uttaranchal Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on Wednesday with Bharatiya Janata Party and Bahujan Samaj Party members entering the well of the House and shouting slogans urging the Governor, Sudharshan Aggarwal, to go back and stop reading out "a false" statement. The Governor read out his speech for about 25 minutes and the House was adjourned.

A visibly pained Mr Tiwari sat through the proceedings. The Opposition's outrage was rooted in a letter written by six ruling Congress MLAs to the Chief Minister seeking action against Excise and Tourism Minister T P S Rawat and Excise Department officials for "leak" of the excise policy. A good number of liquor contractors had filed their bids complete with the bank drafts of earnest money even before the policy was announced on March 4. Pradeep Tamta and a few other Congress MLAs had demanded Mr Rawat's resignation on Monday.

Replying to a query, Mr Rawat told The Hindu that it was sad that his own party colleagues had chosen to write a complaint to the Chief Minister instead of coming to him and seeking action against the leakage of the excise policy. "All bids with bank drafts made and submitted before March 4, the day the policy was announced, have been cancelled and the bidders will not be allowed to take part in the auction of liquor shops," he said.

The excise policy leakage apart, the issue is seen as an outburst of frustration within the Congress where many want Mr Tiwari to step down to pave way for a new face. It may be recalled that Mr Tiwari had during a public speech on March 4 expressed the desire to quit within a month as he was now "too old" to hold the office. This statement is being seen by his detractors as yet another gimmick.

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