Uttarakhand BJP Chief Gets Guard Of Honour, DIG Calls It 'Misunderstanding'

The incident took place when Kaushik, a fourth-term MLA from the Haridwar assembly constituency, visited Bageshwar after taking over as the Uttarakhand BJP chief.

Image credit: Twitter/@madankaushikbjp

With the Uttarakhand Police drawing flak for giving Guard of Honour to newly-appointed state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Madan Kaushik, Bageshwar Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Nilesh Anand Bharne has said it was a “misunderstanding”.

The top cop’s remark comes as the Uttarakhand Police Headquarters had sought a report with regard to the episode. The incident took place when Kaushik, a fourth-term MLA from the Haridwar assembly constituency, visited Bageshwar after taking over as the Uttarakhand BJP chief.

The opposition parties in the hilly state cornered the ruling BJP on the Guard of Honour controversy stating the saffron party was misusing its powers and added all officials across Uttarakhand were under pressure from the present regime.

Kaushik, one of the senior-most BJP MLAs in Uttarakhand, was made the saffron party’s state chief on March 12. He replaced Banshidhar Bhagat, the BJP MLA from Uttarakhand’s Kaladhungi assembly constituency, who was the state party chief since January.

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This took place amid speculations that 68-year-old Bhagat may be inducted as a minister in the government led by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat.

Earlier on Monday, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat tested positive for coronavirus. Newly sworn-in Chief Minister took to Twitter to inform that after testing positive for COVID he is in home isolation.