Cong demands Uttarakhand CM's resignation after HC orders CBI probe into graft charges

A day after the Uttarakhand High Court directed the CBI to probe the corruption charges levelled by a journalist against Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, opposition Congress demanded his resignation on moral grounds on Wednesday.

"A chief minister, who does not tire of flaunting the state government's policy of zero tolerance to corruption, has no right to continue in office for a minute after an order like this," state Congress chief Pritam Singh said at a joint press conference, held along with All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and former chief minister Harish Rawat and the newly-appointed party in-charge for Uttarakhand, Devendra Yadav.

Singh said the party is waiting for an appointment with Governor Baby Rani Maurya to seek her intervention in the matter.

Harish Rawat described the court's order as "serious" and asked the chief minister to quit in order to facilitate an impartial probe into the case.

"After the high court's order, the chief minister should quit immediately to pave the way for an impartial probe into the charges against him," he said.

The Congress leader said that the party will take up the matter with the governor and continue to fight for justice in the case, using its democratic rights.

Yadav, who is on his first visit to Uttarakhand after assuming the party's charge of the state, said the court order for a CBI probe into the allegations against the chief Minister shows the gap between what the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says and what it does.

"It is shocking to see what the BJP government has come to in Uttarakhand after coming to power in 2017 promising clean governance," he said.

Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Indira Hridayesh and former state Congress chief Kishore Upadhyay were also present at the press conference.