Friday, 15 April 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
Says it’s natural for leaders to express their views after unprecedented poll defeat
Breaking his silence on the situation in the Congress wherein some MLAs are questioning the decisions of the party’s central leadership and its state in-charge, former chief minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat has stated that the situation in the party is not alarming.Talking to media persons on Thursday, Rawat said that the party had suffered an unprecedented defeat in the recent Assembly elections so it was natural that the party leaders will express their views on different aspects.
Various MLAs of the Congress have been expressing dissatisfaction since the appointment of former MLA Karan Mahara to the post of Pradesh Congress Committee president, MLAs Yashpal Arya and Bhuwan Chandra Kapri to the posts of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and deputy leader respectively on Sunday. Rawat, who is among the politicians very active on social media, had so far kept silent on the questions being raised by the party’s MLAs. Talking to media persons on Thursday he said, “We were expecting to win the Assembly election. So, after an unprecedented electoral defeat it is natural for the party members to express their views. This situation is normal and not one which requires any special handling,” he said.
On the question of why some party members were blaming him, he said that he was the head of the party’s election campaign committee during the Assembly elections in Uttarakhand. “I failed to secure a win for the party so it is natural for the party members to blame me,” he said. On being asked about what the party is planning for the bypoll to be contested by chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, he said, “We will contest the bypoll strongly. Maybe
we will succeed in doing what we were not able to do earlier,” said the former chief minister.
It will be recalled that since the new appointments four days ago, some of the Congress MLAs have questioned the party leadership’s choice for the posts. Dharchula MLA Harish Dhami has openly blamed the Congress state in-charge Devendra Yadav for the party’s electoral woes and the current situation in the party. He had even declared that he will not hesitate to offer his seat to chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami for the Assembly bypoll. A meeting of the disgruntled MLAs was supposed to be held on Wednesday in which they were to plan their future course of action. However, no concrete development has taken so far on this front.
