DEHRADUN: On the eve of polling in Uttarakhand, senior Congress leader Harish Rawat on Sunday said that "nobody in the party has any objections on my name as the CM candidate". Rawat added that being the chairman of the party's campaign committee, the party is contesting the assembly polls "under his leadership".
Notably, Rawat has not been officially announced as the CM candidate by the party, unlike Punjab, where incumbent CM, Charanjit Singh Channi, is the party’s CM face. On being queried about it, Rawat said it is a "strategic decision taken by the party".
He added, "I do politics of struggle, not power. The party has told me that the election campaign will be led by me. We are fighting to win the election. Nobody in the party has any objection to my name. More than 40% of the people want to see me as the CM candidate this time."
On the contradiction with his earlier statement of presenting a Dalit CM in the state and yet "running for the post", Rawat said “there is no deadline for the wish to be fulfilled." The Congress leader also hit out at CM Pushkar Singh Dhami and called the announcement to implement Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand after he is elected to power, as a "jumla".
(With inputs from agencies)
