Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Thursday denied allegations made by the Congress that he had hatched a plan with the Bharatiya Janata Party to overthrow the existing Uttarakhand government. “Not even in my dreams did I talk to any Congress MLA or party worker. Whatever we do, we do it openly...We don't do anything with a hidden agenda behind curtains,” Ramdev told reporters in Haridwar, where his business empire and yoga ashrams are headquartered. “Political parties are responsible for political incidents.”

State Congress chief Kishore Upadhyay had said on Wednesday that Ramdev had been in touch with the party rebels who had supported BJP in staking claim to form government. Calling him a “BJP agent”, Upadhyay had said Ramdev was “one of the key persons, besides the BJP President [Amit Shah] involved in hatching a conspiracy against the ruling party”. Moreover, state spokesman for the Congress Mathuradutt Joshi said the yoga guru had “many scores to settle with the state government” as there were “a number of cases under investigation against his trust”, PTI reported.

Last Friday, nine Congress leaders led by former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna had joined the Opposition party and met Governor KK Paul to stake claim to form government. Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal later issued show-cause notices to the nine rebel legislators, seeking an answer to why their Assembly membership should not be terminated under the anti-defection law. Chief Minister Harish Singh Rawat, who had said on Monday that the BJP was "murdering democracy", will have to prove his majority in the state Assembly on March 28.