Corbett violations: BJP minister turned Cong leader sees Vigilance raids over two generators

The case relates to alleged irregularities in the construction of Pakhro Safari in the Kaulagarh Tiger Reserve of Corbett National Park. In the Vigilance raids, at the Doon Institute of Medical Sciences in Shankarpur and Amravati Petrol Pump in Dehradun, two generators worth around Rs 15 lakh, allegedly bought with government money, were seized.

Officials apparently stumbled on the case of the generators while probing the Corbet irregularities. During the raids, the team also questioned Rawat and staff of the two establishments owned by his son, and seized some documents.

Calling the raids a continuation of the Modi government using agencies to target Opposition leaders, Rawat claimed a letter had been written by him in January 2022 asking the Forest Department to take back the generators, but they had not done so.

“Across the country, the Central and state BJP governments are misusing agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, CBI and Vigilance. I was the forest minister in the BJP government till January 8, 2022, when the model code of conduct came into place. If there was something wrong, why did they not conduct an inquiry? My PS informed me that two generators had been given to me by the Forest Department. I immediately asked him to write a letter to the Kalagarh DFO to take back their generators. They however did not do as as the DFO came under the scanner and went to jail,” Rawat said.

Uttarakhand Vigilance Director V Murugesan said they had received information that some properties purchased with government funds had been put up at private places. “With the court’s permission, we raided the places. Based on the properties recovered, and how the investigation proceeds, we will be able to say who these belong to,” Murugesan said.

As forest minister in the BJP government, the Pakhro Tiger Reserve development around 2019 had been Rawat’s pet project, amid allegations that thousands of trees had been felled, apart from financial and construction irregularities.

Following the allegations, inspections were carried out at the park by the National Tiger Conservation Authority in October 2021 and by officials of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in December 2021. These reportedly found several irregularities in construction, as well as the illegal felling of trees for the proposed tiger safari in Pakhro.

Earlier this year, hearing a PIL, the Uttarakhand High Court asked why a CBI probe should not be conducted into the matter. At the next hearing, on September 1, the court is expected to decide if the Vigilance will continue to probe or the case will be transferred to the CBI.

The Uttarakhand BJP denied Rawat’s claims and said the party had nothing to do with the matter. Its state media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said an investigation was underway into the former minister’s case. “The Congress leader is facing several investigations, so how can he blame the BJP?” Chauhan said.

Considered an important Uttarakhand leader, Rawat won his first Assembly election in 1991 on a BJP ticket from Pauri and served as the youngest minister in the Kalyan Singh government in undivided Uttar Pradesh. He later joined the BSP. In 1998, Rawat switched to the Congress after being denied a ticket by the BSP and got elected as MLA from Lansdowne in 2002 and 2007. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the state from 2007 to 2012.

In 2012, Rawat lost to Vijay Bahuguna in the race to the Chief Minister’s post, and was inducted in the Congress government. In 2016, Rawat was one of the nine Congress legislators who joined hands with the BJP against then CM Harish Rawat, to dislodge his government.

This came after his demand for more departments such as PWD and Power was turned down.

He was a minister in the BJP government, holding the portfolios of Forest and Environment, Labour, and Employment and Skill Development, that followed. In January 2022, a month after Rawat threatened to resign during a Cabinet meeting chaired by CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, the BJP removed him from the party citing indiscipline.

Five days later, Rawat joined the Congress along with his daughter-in-law Anukriti Gusain. The Congress put up a united front and ensured the presence of its entire Uttarakhand line-up in Delhi to welcome Rawat – a minor feat given that Harish Rawat was said to be opposed to his entry.

While the senior leader hoped to traipse into the Congress, the action against him by the BJP significantly reduced Harak Rawat’s bargaining power. Rawat had to give up his claim for a seat in favour of his daughter-in-law in the February 2022 Assembly elections. Anukriti eventually lost from Lansdowne to the BJP’s Daleep Singh Rawat.

The raids may hit Rawat’s hopes of getting a Lok Sabha ticket from the Congress for the 2024 elections from Haridwar.