Friday, 28 October 2022 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Having made a declaration to leave the politics of the state, the former chief minister Harish Rawat has again shown his intention to return back to Uttarakhand. After attending the ceremony at All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi in which the newly elected president of Congress party Mallikarjun Kharge took the charge of the office, Rawat poured his heart out on social media. He said that the speeches of Sonia Gandhi and Kharge infused enthusiasm in everyone. The Congress stalwart of Uttarakhand then said that he would soon complete 55 years of serving people with his association with Congress. “ Time has arrived for me to make an assessment of my capacities. In Har Ki Paidi it appears as if Goddess Ganga is telling me that before taking any decision, I should consult the people of Almora and Haridwar parliamentary constituencies,’’ he said.
Rawat then added that after campaigning for the party in Himachal Pradesh, he would undertake a Padyatra in Haridwar and visit all the four districts of Almora Lok Sabha constituency.
The political observers point out that the veteran politician has made up his mind to throw his hat in the ring for the Haridwar Lok Sabha for the election of 2024. Interestingly the former CM has made mention of Almora- Pithoragarh parliamentary seat in his post even though it is reserved for SC and not the Nainital- Udham Singh constituency from where he lost the election in the year 2019. It is pertinent to mention here that Rawat has an emotional attachment with the Almora parliamentary seat as it was from here that he was first elected to Lok Sabha way back in the year 1980. In this election he proved to be a giant killer when he defeated BJP stalwart Murli Manohar Joshi. Rawat again represented this constituency in the elections of 1984 and 1989 but in the election of 1991 he was defeated by Jeevan Sharma of BJP. His losing streak from this parliamentary constituency continued in 1996, 1998 and 1999 as he lost to Bachi Singh Rawat of BJP. In the year 2009 Almora- Pithoragarh seat became reserved for SC and Rawat shifted to Haridwar. The people of Haridwar gave much needed impetus to the career of Rawat when he defeated Swami Yatishwaranand Giri of BJP to enter Lok Sabha for the fourth time in 2009.
