12 Congress MLAs paid Rs 25 lakh each by Harish Rawat, claims fresh sting

New Delhi: The political situation in Uttarakhand turned even murkier on Sunday as a fresh sting video, claiming that Congress MLAs were paid by the then Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat to save government, has surfaced. Congress MLA Madan Singh in an alleged sting video -shot by private TV channel Samachar Plus- claims that 12 Congress MLAs were paid Rs 25 lakh each by Harish Rawat. He has also claimed that Rawat earned 27 crores while in power. BJP condemned the entire episode calling Congress power hungry. "Harish Rawat can go to any extent to save his chair, he is buying his own MLAs," BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said. However, the ousted chief minster of the state Harish Rawat accused BJP of spying upon him and blackmailing Congress MLAs. "Two bureaucrats on top positions are being blackmailed into act against us to stop us to prove our majority. I have been continuously spied upon and our MLAs are being blackmailed," Rawat said. "I have decided that after result of May 10, we'll wage a war against blackmailers," Rawat added. Rawat also asserted that he will prove majority in the floor test of Uttarakhand Assembly on May 10. Meanwhile, training guns on BJP for ongoing political turmoil in Uttarakhand, Congress state chief Kishore Upadhyay said that "a person from Madhya Pradesh is polluting the political climate in Uttarakhand". "We've a written a letter to MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan to call Kailash Vijayvargiya back to Indore," Upadhyay said. Earlier, The CBI on May 5 summoned former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat for questioning in connection with a preliminary enquiry (PE) into the controversial sting CD in which he was purportedly seen talking to middlemen in a bid to strike a deal with dissident Congress MLAs. Rawat has been called by the CBI to join the probe on Monday, sources said. The inquiry was registered on the recommendation of the state government and the notification was issued by the Centre. The state is under President's rule. Two days before Rawat was to face vote of confidence on March 28, nine rebel Congress MLAs, led by former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, had alleged that they were offered bribe by Rawat for support during the floor test in the Uttarakhand Assembly and released a video of the "sting" operation. The sting CD made by the editor-in-chief of a private news channel and circulated by the nine Congress rebels who created a political crisis in the state by siding with BJP in the Assembly, purportedly shows Rawat negotiating a money deal with the journalist to buy the support of MLAs who had revolted against him.