Uttarakhand CM’s wife at centre of controversy again

Dehradun, May 22 (IANS) Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat's wife Sunita is again at the centre of a raging controversy in Uttarakhand -- this time for purchasing a piece of land at a prime tourist location here.

Sunita, a government teacher, had faced flak for remaining posted in Dehradun for more than two decades owing to the alleged political influence of her husband last year.

But this time, Congress state chief Pritam Singh and party MLA Karan Mehra have claimed that Sunita allegedly purchased 16 bhigas of land at Suryadhar lake, a new tourist site being developed by the state government in Dehradun district.

"On one hand, the government is developing the Suryadhar lake area by spending Rs 70 crore and on the other hand, Sunita, who is wife of the Chief Minister, purchased a piece of land in partnership with wife of a close friend of the Chief Minister at a throw away price," claimed Singh.

"Since the government is developing the site, the market price of the land purchased by Sunita also increased many times," he said.

In this regard, Singh and Mehra claimed that the Chief Minister was directly involved in this land-purchase scam with his friend Sanjay Gupta, whose wife purchased this land in 2017 jointly with Sunita.

"The registry of this land was done on July 31, 2017," they alleged. The two leaders also distributed the copies of the registries of this piece of land to a section of the media.

The leaders also demanded immediate resignation of the Chief Minister on the issue and said the government must set up a probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in consultation with the High Court.

The two leaders also mocked at the Chief Minister's zero tolerance policy against corruption. "There is no zero tolerance when it comes to corruption at home," Singh said.

Meanwhile, state BJP spokesman Munna Singh Chauhan has denied all the charges levelled against the Chief Minister and said if these charges are proved right, then he along with Rawat will resign immediately.

"I am challenging the Congress leaders to prove these charges. If there is any truth in these charges, we both (Chauhan and CM) will not wait for a second to resign."

However, Chauhan admitted that the two women had purchased some land at Chaimasari area which is 25 km away from Suryadhar area.

Last year, Uttara Bahuguna, also a government teacher, had raised the issue that she was not transferred to Dehradun even after working in Uttarkashi for more than two decades in front of the Chief Minister Rawat at a 'janata durbar'. But later, she entered into a verbal duel with the Chief Minister and was placed under suspension. Later, an RTI activist told the media that Sunita was posted in Dehradun for over two decades while Bahuguna was not transferred to the state capital even after her repeated requests.