Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat has said he is not in the race for the Chief Minister’s post and that his main objective is to help the Congress form the state government in 2027, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
As the Congress prepares for the Assembly elections through statewide campaigns, Rawat said he would not seek the chief minister’s post or any other office if the party secured a majority.
Calling speculation about his participation in the chief ministerial race baseless, Rawat said in a social media post on Wednesday, “Our party has many capable and qualified individuals for this role. Our goal is to ensure the formation of a Congress government in 2027. We aim to oust the BJP government and establish a Congress administration.”
Reflecting on his political journey, Rawat said the Congress had given him opportunities to rise from a booth-level worker to a Union minister and chief minister. He said he no longer had any desire for a particular position.
“I consistently strive to remind the public of the achievements of the Congress government, including those from my own tenure as chief minister, while highlighting the failures of the BJP government by way of comparison,” Rawat said, according to PTI.
Rawat also highlighted the Ankita Bhandari murder case, saying his objective was to secure justice for a “daughter of Uttarakhand” and bring the “VIP” allegedly linked to her murder to justice. He described the issue as important for the state and linked the demand for justice to the Congress’s main political priorities.
The former chief minister also raised allegations of a scam involving mid-day meals for schoolchildren and food supplies meant for pregnant women. He alleged that hundreds of crores of rupees had been siphoned off by depriving the intended beneficiaries of food.
“We must hold accountable the ‘Bunty-Babli’ duo, those who siphoned off hundreds of crores through scams involving mid-day meals and food grains meant for schoolchildren and pregnant women — a scam involving Rs 210 crore has already been acknowledged — and who used these ill-gotten gains to build a lavish farmhouse and a palatial estate in Bareilly,” Rawat alleged, according to PTI.
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