Harish Rawat opts out of CM race, says goal is to bring Congress to power in Uttarakhand
Prithviraj Singh
Dehradun, Nov 04 (UNI) Senior Congress leader and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Thursday opted out of the race for the chief minister's post in the 2027 assembly polls , saying his only objective is to bring the party back to power in the state.
In a post on X, Rawat dismissed speculation that he would stake a claim to the top post if the Congress secured a majority in the next Assembly elections. "I will not seek the post of chief minister or any other position of power once the Congress wins a majority in the 2027 Assembly elections. My goal is to bring the Congress to power in Uttarakhand in 2027," he said.
Rawat made his views clear in a social media post as he stated that his only aim is to ensure Congress party returns to power in Uttarakhand after a gap of ten years. Recalling his political journey, Rawat said the Congress had given him more than he could have expected or even deserved, starting from the position of a booth-level worker to that of a union minister and chief minister. He also recalled serving as district Youth Congress president, AICC general secretary and a member of the Congress Working Committee. "Thanks to the Congress party, I have risen from a small-time booth-level worker to a union minister and have also served as state's Chief Minister. I was made president of the District Youth Congress, national general secretary of the All India Congress Committee and a member of the Congress Working Committee. I neither had qualifications nor the ability for anything beyond this, nor do I have any such ambition,"Rawat said.
"I have seen everything, from being a booth-level worker to becoming a union minister and chief minister. I have neither the desire nor the ambition for any further position," he said. Rawat said the Congress has several capable leaders who could hold the chief minister's post and asserted that the party's immediate objective was to defeat the BJP and form the government in 2027. "The whispers that I am in the race for Chief Minister are baseless. Our party has capable and competent people for this post. Our goal is to form a Congress government in 2027. Our goal is to ouster the BJP and bring the Congress back to power in Uttarakhand" said the Congress party veteran Harish Rawat.
"To achieve this goal, I constantly try to bring the Congress government's achievements including that of my tenure as Chief Minister, back into people's memory, while critcising the failures of the BJP government" said Harish Rawat.He said he is working to highlight the achievements of the previous Congress government, including his own tenure as chief minister, while raising issues concerning the functioning of the BJP government.
The former chief minister also referred to the Ankita Bhandari murder case, demanding justice for the Uttarakhand woman and action against the alleged VIP whose involvement has been a subject of public debate. "Our aim is to secure justice for Uttarakhand's daughter Ankita Bhandari and ensure that the VIP responsible for her death is brought to justice," he said.
Rawat also raised allegations of irregularities in the distribution of midday meals to schoolchildren and foodgrains meant for pregnant women. Without naming anyone, he referred to a 'Bunty-Babli' duo and alleged that hundreds of crores of rupees had been siphoned off in the midday meal and foodgrain scams. He also cited an alleged Rs 210-crore scam, claiming that the money was used to construct a farmhouse and a palatial residential property in Bareilly. Rawat further said that protecting Uttarakhand's distinct identity and ensuring its inclusion in government policies and programmes remained among his priorities.
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