News Analysis India

Tag: Harish Rawat

  • Pritam Singh vs Harish Rawat: Congress faces faction war in Uttarakhand

    By Express News Service

    DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand unit of Indian National Congress after losing state assembly elections to rival Bhartiya Janta Party is not able to deal with factionalism inside the party. 

    The two groups- one favoring Pritam Singh and another former Chief Minister Harish Rawat are in tussle to get the position of leader of opposition in the state assembly where Congress has 18 of the 70 seats while the BJP has total 47 MLAs.

    “Rawat ji is senior but his performance in these elections have been disastrous. He lost himself by memore than 17500 votes. However, party’s performance has improved slightly. But the second line up of the leaders do not want him to continue in active politics sabotaging their prospects,” said a party insider. 

    On Monday, state in charge for the party Devendra Yadav had a meeting with stay leaders including Pritam Singh and Harish Rawat to decide on leader of opposition in the state assembly. 

    Few months prior to state assembly elections Singh was made leader of opposition removing him from the position of state party President.

    Earlier, Dr Indira Hridayesh held the position who was Congress MLA from Haldwani and died in June last year. 

    The move was seen as diminishing Singh’s role as decision maker in the upcoming elections by Harish Rawat and installing his candidates on key positions such as state party president. 

    With Rawat losing another assembly elections, political career of the senior Congress leader is at stake, said political analysts adding that the party has performed better than 2017 elections and this must be used to create and promote second line up of the state leaders for future political prospects. 

    However, many still believe that the party was able to rise from 11 seats to 18 seats because of Rawat’s hold on people.

    Rawat was defeated by Bhartiya Janta Party candidate in Lalkuwa by more than 17500 votes. In 2017 state assembly elections he lost from two seats he contested. 

    Now whispers are doing rounds that Rawat must be shunned by the high command to make way for the second line up of the leaders.

    After he lost from Kiccha and Haridwar Rural seats in 2017 many had touted that his political career was over.

    Come 2022, he became indispensable for the Congress party in Uttarakhand and the party contested under his name.

  • Harish Rawat expresses embarrassment over failure to guide party to victory in Uttarakhand

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN: Congress’ poll campaign head for Uttarakhand Harish Rawat on Sunday expressed anguish and an acute sense of embarrassment over his failure to guide the party to victory in the state assembly election, saying he could not rise to the expectations of the party leadership that had reposed its trust in him.

    In a Facebook post hours before he left for Delhi to attend a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, Rawat, who also lost from the Lalkuwa seat, said he did not know how he would face party chief Sonia Gandhi.

    ”How much trust she had in me. All the top leaders of Congress had so much trust in me. All of them expected me to bring the Congress back to power. There must have been some shortcoming on my part because of which I could not meet their expectations,” the 73-year-old former chief minister said.

    “The reality is we haven’t just lost but our loss has also thrown up several dangerous indications,” Rawat said.

    However, Rawat said the party should think of overcoming the challenges lying ahead.

    “We don’t just have to come to power. I believe Congress is the only party that can attain a pan-India presence and emerge as a strong democratic alternative to the BJP.”

    “Some piecemeal efforts are being made by some people in that direction but unlike the Congress, they don’t have it in their DNA,” Rawat said.

    “But we are politically falling short of something and failing to win the confidence of people again and again. Those who have faith in constitutional democracy have their eyes fixed on the Congress,” he said.

    The Congress, which fought under the leadership of Rawat, won just 19 seats against BJP’s 47 out of a total of 70 assembly seats, with political observers attributing the loss to factionalism in the opposition party besides other factors.

    The CWC met on Sunday to discuss the party’s poll debacle in five states.

    “I pray to the almighty to light a ray of hope in the thickening darkness and show the way that leads to the emergence of Congress as a democratic alternative at the national level,” Rawat said.

  • ‘Will EC take cognisance of this?’ Harish Rawat claims video shows ballot tampering

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN: Congress general secretary Harish Rawat has posted a video on social media that purportedly shows one person at an Army centre ticking and signing several postal ballot papers.

    Sharing the video on his Twitter handle and Facebook on Tuesday, Rawat said, “Sharing a short video for everyone’s information. It shows how one man at an army centre is ticking and signing several ballot papers. Will the Election Commission take cognisance of this?” When asked about the tweet, Rawat’s spokesman Surendra Kumar refused to disclose the source of the video but claimed that it is from Uttarakhand.

    The party has not made a formal complaint to the Election Commission in this regard yet but it can take suo motu cognisance of it, he said.

    The Congress leaders termed it as a “mockery of democracy” and urged the Election Commission to take cognisance of the video and act against the guilty.

    The state Congress has retweeted Rawat’s tweet.

    Leader of Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly Pritam Singh said,”In this video that makes a mockery of democracy, a man at an army centre is seen ticking and signing several postal ballot papers in favour of the party of his choice.”

    The Election Commission should take cognisance of it and act against the guilty, Singh said.

    Reacting to the tweet, the BJP termed it the Congress’ frustration, saying the party is doing it as it can see its defeat in the recently held Assembly polls.

    “The Congress is resorting to such tactics as it is aware that it has failed to mislead people. In the face of its imminent defeat the party which was talking earlier about manipulation of EVMs is now talking about ballot papers. It shows the party’s frustration,” Pradesh BJP media incharge Manveer Singh Chauhan said.

    The Army should be kept away from politics and the Congress should avoid levelling such allegations without testing their authenticity, Chauhan said.

  • Harish Rawat says confident of winning 45-48 seats, forming government in Uttarakhand

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN: Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Monday claimed his Congress party will win 45-48 seats in the assembly polls this time owing to a strong anti-incumbency wave.

    Election to the 70-member assembly in Uttarakhand was held on February 14 and the results are to be announced on March 10.

    “If we compare the 2002 assembly polls with the 2022 assembly polls we are in a better position this time. In 2002 we won the polls on the strength of our positivity while the anti-incumbency against the BJP government at that time was not as strong as this time,” Rawat said.

    “In comparison to 2002 there is more positivity in Congress in 2022 and so is the anti-incumbency against the BJP. So we are confident of winning 45-48 seats and forming the government,” he said.

    The Congress general secretary said in 2002 everyone was in doubt about the party’s victory but he personally was sure it would win at least 40 seats.

    In 2002, the Congress had formed the government winning 36 out of a total of 70 seats.

    Rawat was the party’s state unit president at that time and the election was fought under his leadership.

    Rawat said when Congress president Sonia Gandhi saw the impressive turnout at her rallies in Bageshwar she had agreed with him that the party was going to form the government in the state.

    The 2002 assembly poll results in Uttarakhand had even surprised the then deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani, he said.

    Rawat said Advani had invited him to tea to explain how he managed to win the polls.

    In the 30-member interim assembly before the year 2002, the BJP had 23 seats and the Congress two.

    In the 2012 assembly polls, the Congress formed the government again but with the help of independents as it was four seats short of the magic figure.

    Yashpal Arya was the party’s state unit chief at the time of 2012 assembly polls.

  • EC warns Uttarakhand BJP to be more careful over morphed photo of Congress leader Harish Rawat

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Election Commission (EC) has warned the Uttarakhand BJP to be more careful in the future and advised it to follow all provisions of the poll code, days after it tweeted a morphed picture of Congress leader Harish Rawat.

    Last week, the poll panel had issued a notice to the Uttarakhand unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for tweeting a morphed image of former chief minister Rawat, in which he was shown as a Muslim cleric.

    An EC order issued on Wednesday said the Uttarakhand BJP has submitted that the purpose of the tweet was neither to violate any provisions of the Model Code of Conduct nor to create any differences between groups on the basis of religion, race, caste and language.

    CLICK HERE FOR COVERAGE ON UTTARAKHAND ELECTIONS

    It has also told the poll panel that the tweet has since been deleted from its official Twitter handle. The EC said it has not found the reply of the Uttarakhand BJP satisfactory.

    The order noted that an FIR has been lodged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Representation of the People Act in connection with a Facebook post, which “will follow its logical conclusion”.

    “Now, therefore, the Commission warns the Bharatiya Janata Party, Uttarakhand to be more careful in future and advises to follow all the provisions of Model Code of Conduct and other guidelines of the Commission in letter and spirit,” the order read.

    The 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on February 14 and the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.

  • Uttarakhand elections: Following protest of senior leader, Congress changes Harish Rawat’s seat to Lalkuan

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Former Uttarakhand chief minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat will now contest the February 14 assembly elections from Lalkuan seat instead of Ramnagar, which was announced earlier.

    The Congress changed Rawat’s seat in the third list of 10 candidates announced late on Wednesday.

    In this list, the party changed the seats of five of its previously nominated candidates.

    It also nominated Rawat’s daughter Anupama Rawat from the Haridwar rural assembly seat.

    He had unsuccessfully contested from the Kichcha and Haridwar rural assembly seats in the last assembly polls in 2017.

    Rawat replaces Sandhya Dalakoti for the Lalkuan seat, while Mahender Pal Singh will now contest in Rawat’s place from Ramnagar assembly constituency.

    Singh was earlier nominated by the party to contest the Kaladhungi assembly seat, from where the party has now fielded Mahesh Sharma.

    The Congress also nominated Gaurav Chaudhary in place of Mohit Uniyal for the Doiwala assembly seat and Ravi Bahadur replaced Barkha Rani for the Jwalapur-SC seat.

    The party has nominated Yashpal Rana from Roorkee.

    Earlier, Uttarakhand Congress working president Ranjit Rawat has expressed displeasure of the Rawat from Nainital’s Ramnagar, a seat from where he was hopeful of getting the party ticket.

    In a purported video that surfaced on social media, Ranjit Rawat is seen questioning the party’s move while demanding that Harish Rawat’s candidature be withdrawn.

    “Will you let someone else (Harish Rawat) reap the harvest of a barren land which you made fertile,” he is seen asking party workers in the video.

    “Someone who wants to be made the party’s face for the polls, claiming people would vote in his name, would have had no problem contesting from any other seat,” he said.

    Terming the party’s decision ‘wrong’, he asks the party high command to withdraw it.

    “If it does not, then you decide what to do with someone who despite having been chief minister does not have a seat,” Rawat said referring to Congress campaign head Harish Rawat, who lost both the seats he contested in the 2017 Assembly polls.

    “I will go with whatever you decide. No decisions can be taken unilaterally in social and political life,” Ranjit Rawat is heard saying in the video.

    Though Ranjit Rawat had lost the Ramnagar seat to the BJP candidate in the 2017 Assembly polls, he had worked hard in the constituency and was expecting party ticket from there this time.

    However, the Congress declared Harish Rawat as its candidate from the seat in its second list on Monday, disappointing Ranjit Rawat.

  • Uttarakhand: Harish Rawat to contest from Ramnagar, Congress releases 2nd list

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday released its second list of 11 candidates for Uttarakhand assembly elections and fielded former chief minister Harish Rawat from the Ramnagar constituency.

    Harish Rawat, who is the party’s campaign head in the state, had unsuccessfully contested from the Haridwar-Rural and Kichcha assembly seats in the 2017 polls.

    The Congress also fielded Anukriti Gusain Rawat from the Lansdowne assembly seat.

    She is the daughter-in-law of Harak Singh Rawat, who returned to the Congress fold from the BJP on Friday.

    The party has so far not decided on the candidature of Harak Singh Rawat and is yet to announce candidates for six more seats.

    With this, the Congress has so far released its candidates for 64 candidates, after the first list of 53 candidates was released on Saturday night.

    Harak Singh Rawat’s insistence on a ticket for Anukriti from Lansdowne was said to have been the reason behind his estrangement with the BJP which finally led to his return to the Congress which he had quit in 2016.

    Other candidates to figure in the list are Suryakant Dhasmana from Dehradun Cantt seat, Mohit Uniyal from Doiwala, Jayendra Chand Ramola from Rishikesh, Barkha Rani and Virendra Kumar Jati from reserved SC seats of Jwalapur and Jhabreda respectively, Subhash Chaudhry from Khanpur, Antriksh Saini from Laksar, Sandhya Dalakoti from Lalkuan, and Mahender Pal Singh from Kaladhungi.

    Uttarakhand goes to polls in a single phase on February 14 to elect its 70-member assembly.

    The results will be out on March 10.

    In its first list, the party has fielded Uttarakhand Congress president Ganesh Godiyal from the Srinagar seat and Leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly Pritam Singh from the Chakrata (ST) constituency.

    Yashpal Arya, a former Speaker in the state assembly, who had recently joined the Congress after quitting the BJP, has been fielded from his Bajpur-SC constituency.

    Arya’s son Sanjeev Arya has also been fielded from the Nainital (SC) assembly seat, which he quit after resigning from the BJP along with his father.

    Sumit Hridayesh, the son of senior Congress leader Indira Hridayesh who died in June last year, has been fielded from Haldwani assembly seat.

    The Congress has also retained most of its sitting MLAs in its two lists announced so far.

  • Uttarakhand polls: Congress releases first list of 53 candidates, Harak Singh Rawat misses the cut

    Express News Service

    DEHRADUN: Indian National Congress on Saturday late night announced the first list of candidates for 53 seats in Uttarakhand for upcoming assembly polls on February 14.

    The suspense remains on the seats of former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat.

    The party has not denied ticket to any of its sitting MLAs. 

    The Congress had 11 MLAs of which Rajkumar from Purola assembly constituency joined the Bhartiya Janta Party last year in September while Congress MLA from Haldwani and leader of opposition in the state legislative assembly Dr Indira Hridayesh died in June 2021. 

    Uttarakhand legislative assembly died in June last year limiting the numbers of Congress MLAs to nine.

    The nine incumbent MLAs of the party who have been trusted again to contest the elections from their respective constituencies include the names of Manoj Rawat from Kedarnath, Pritam Singh from Chakrata, Mamta Rakesh from Bhagwanpur, Qazi Muhammad Nizamuddin from Manglaur, Mohammad Furqan Ahmed from Piran Kaliyar, Harish Singh Dhami from Dharchula, Karan Singh Mahra from Ranikhet, Govind Singh Kunjwal from Jageshwar and Adesh Singh Chauhan from Jaspur. 

    In the first list of 53, the party has given tickets to only three women- Godawari Thapli from Mussoorie seat, Mamta Rakesh from Bhagwanpur and Meena Sharma from Rudrapur. 

    Two Muslim candidates, both sitting MLAs from Haridwar district have also been fielded by the party.

    Balancing the caste equation the party has given tickets to 20 Thakur candidates who constitute about 35% of the vote share in the state. 

    Bhuwan Chandra Kapri has been chosen to challenge Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami from his constituency Khatima.

    The list includes the names of state party president Ganesh Godiyal who is fielded from Srinagar Assembly constituency, former speaker of the state assembly Govind Singh Kunjwal from Jageshwar seat, former state president of the party and at present holding the position of leader of opposition in party Pritam Singh from Chakrata seat among others.

    The grand old party and also given ticket to Yashpal Arya and his son who left the BJP to join the Congress last year.

    Yashpal Arya has been fielded from Bajpur constituency while his son has been entrusted by the party on Nainital seat. 

    Sumit Hridayesh, a member of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and son of Indira Hridayesh, late leader of opposition has been fielded from Haldwani state assembly constituency by the party. 

    Party sources told that the central leadership and formed a two-member committee including Mukul Wasnik, general secretary of the AICC to finalize names on rest of the 17 seats in next two-three days. 

    Nominations for the 70 seats of the state have started on January 21, 2022. 

    Earlier on January 20, the BJP announced first list of its candidates on 59 seats of Uttarakhand for upcoming elections of 70-member legislative assembly on February 14 denying tickets to 10 sitting MLAs including former CM’s daughter. 

    Total 10 sitting MLAs have been denied tickets including daughter of former Chief Minister Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri and sitting MLA from Yamkeshwar, Ritu Bhushan Khanduri and Raghunath Chauhan, sitting MLA from Almora and deputy speaker of the state assembly. 

    The list has new names including famous Bollywood singer Jubin Nautiyal’s father Ramsharan Nautiyal from Chakrata assembly seat and wife of Khanpur BJP MLA Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion’s wife Kuwarani Devyani.

    Recent defections give Congress major advantage?

    The reinduction of Harak Singh Rawat and Yashpal Arya into the Congress is being seen as a major gain for the party ahead of the February 14 assembly polls in Uttarakhand.

    There was a dearth of big faces in the Congress after the exit of prominent leaders from the party following a revolt against the Harish Rawat government in 2016.

    While Harak Singh Rawat, a prominent leader from the Garhwal rejoined the party on Friday, Arya, a major SC leader from Kumaon division returned to the party along with his MLA son Sanjeev in October last year.

    Both Rawat and Arya are experienced leaders whose re-entry into the Congress comes as a major boost for the party ahead of the comping assembly polls.

    Rawat has never lost in any of the four assembly polls held in Uttarakhand since its creation in 2000 although he contested from four different seats.

    He has also held ministerial positions in both undivided Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

    Yashpal Arya who held key positions like that of the state assembly speaker, Pradesh Congress president and a minister under the chief ministership of both Vijay Bahuguna and Harish Rawat is capable of playing a decisive role for the party on 12 SC seats in the state as he is seen as the tallest Dalit leader in the state.

    The SC seats where Yashpal Arya’s presence can shore up the Congress’ chances are Purola, Tharali, Ghansali, Rajpur Road, Jwalapur, Bhagwanpur, Pauri, Gangolihat, Bageshwar, Someshwar, Nainital and Bajpur.

    Arya had won from Bajpur in 2017 on a BJP ticket with more than 54,000 votes.

    With their return to the party, it does not look like an entirely depleted side in the upcoming polls as it did in 2017 with most of its big leaders adorning the ranks of BJP at that time, political observers here feel.

    “Both leaders are seasoned politicians with decades of experience. Their reinduction into the party will definitely brighten its prospects further,” Pradesh Congress general secretary Mathura Dutt Joshi said.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Harish Rawat’s son, daughter defy Congress’ ‘one family, one ticket’ formula, seeks tickets to contest Uttarakhand polls

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Even after reiterating on several occasions that the ‘one family, one ticket’ formula will be applied in Congress party, children of veteran leader Harish Rawat are looking at the 2022 Uttarakhand assembly elections with high hopes.

    Rawat’s daughter Anupama Rawat (who presently holds the position of Mahila Congress national general secretary) has sought party tickets from three different Assembly seats out of 11 in Haridwar constituency from the AICC screening committee for Uttarakhand,a senior party leader involved in the screening committee meetings told ANI.

    Rawat’s son Virendra has sought a ticket from one seat while another son Anand has expressed his desire to contest the state Assembly elections.

    Avinash Pandey heads the AICC screening committee for Uttarakhand which also includes Devendra Yadav, Ganesh Godiyal, Harish Rawat, Rajesh Dharmani and Pritam Singh.

    Notably, Virendra has submitted an application for one of the seats on which Anupama has applied, sources said.

    Apart from Harish Rawat’s children, the offspring of many political heavyweights are eyeing poll tickets.

    Meanwhile, Harish Rawat on December 24 announced that he will be leading the Uttarakhand elections as the chairman of the campaign committee.

    Sumit Hridayesh, son of late Congress leader Indira Hridayesh has expressed his desire for a ticket to contest the elections. Meanwhile, Pritam Singh, who is Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, has also sought a ticket for his son Abhishek.

    Yashpal Arya’s son Sanjiv also wants to fight the election. Notably, both of them rejoined the ranks of Congress after quitting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

  • A truce in Uttarakhand Congress: Harish Rawat says he will lead party’s poll campaign

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi held frantic parleys on Friday and brought about a truce between warring factions in poll-bound Uttarakhand, with senior leader Harish Rawat who had declared a virtual revolt announcing that he would lead the party’s election campaign.

    The party, however, made it clear that its chief ministerial candidate will be picked only after the election outcome.

    It has been a bone of contention between various factions of the party.

    The damage control exercise was led by Gandhi who met Rawat and other state leaders.

    The meetings came two days after Rawat had declared a virtual rebellion, saying the leadership had abandoned him and he felt he had had enough.

    Emerging from the meeting, the former Uttarakhand chief minister said, “We put our problems before the leadership and accept whatever decisions are taken by them. I will lead the party campaign in Uttarakhand elections.”

    “Kadam kadam badhaye ja, Congress ke geet gaye ja (Keep marching ahead together, sings paeans to Congress),” he said, adding that he will continue to work for the welfare of Uttarakhand.

    The Congress president has the special right to decide on the leader of the Congress Legislature Party after talking to elected legislators, Rawat said.

    He said everyone honours that and will abide by the decision of the Congress president.

    Gandhi also separately met state Congress chief Ganesh Godiyal, who supported Rawat in the ongoing factional war within the state unit.

    Rawat, it is learnt, is keen to be projected as the chief ministerial face of the party, but Gandhi has said that the decision would be taken after the elections.

    Gandhi also met AICC in-charge of Uttarakhand Devendra Yadav, with whom Rawat is reportedly not getting along well, and several other leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Pradeep Tamta, Congress Legislature Party leader Pritam Singh, Yashpal Arya and former state unit chief Kishore Upadhyay.

    It was made clear in the meeting that Congress president Sonia Gandhi will take a decision on who would be the chief minister after the elections if the party bags majority.

    “We had a very successful meeting,” Yadav said and mentioned about the decision on the chief ministerial face.

    Godiyal said an atmosphere as required by Rawat would be created and everyone would support him.

    Uttarakhand goes to assembly polls early next year and the Congress is trying to return to power in the hill state.