Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Subodh Uniyal had said that Prakash Pandey’s action “looks politically motivated”.
A businessman from Uttarakhand’s Haldwani, who, on January 6, entered the Dehradun BJP office after consuming poison, died at a private hospital here on Tuesday afternoon. Prakash Pandey, in his early 40s, blamed demonetisation and the subsequent imposition of GST for loss in his transport business.
On January 6, Pandey entered the BJP office when state agriculture minister Subodh Uniyal was listening to people’s problems at a “Janata Darbar”. Pandey, while speaking to Uniyal, had blamed the BJP government in the state and centre for loss in business due to demonetisation and GST.
In the past few months, Pandey had written to the Prime Minister’s Office and to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat mentioning that his transport business had suffered “immense” losses after demonetisation and GST. However, no help was extended to him, which, according to Pandey, “has left no option” for him “but to consume poison”.
Pandey’s bank transactions, which were between Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1 crore a year demonetisation, had become nil post demonetisation and GST, a letter he had written to the Uttarakhand chief minister on January 5, stated.
Pandey had not been able to pay the fee for his two school-going children since the past six months and was under debt.
While BJP’s Uniyal had said that the incident “looks politically motivated”, the Congress ministers have been blaming the BJP’s “false policies” for the “tragic” incident.
Pandey was taken to a government hospital in Dehradun from the BJP office, where it was confirmed that he had consumed poison. He was later shifted to a private hospital here. He was declared critical and was admitted to the ICU. However, he died on Tuesday afternoon.