Harish Rawat’s fast over Gairsain assembly session heats up Uttarakhand politics

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand politics has intensified as Congress leader Harish Rawat announced a fast to coincide with the three-day monsoon session of the state assembly in Gairsain, the summer capital, starting August 21.

Rawat, a former Chief Minister, will sit on a fast in Gairsain on the same day, protesting the lack of development in the region. Septuagenarian Rawat claims he will travel to Gairsain to find ‘signs indicating the way’ to the summer capital, highlighting the government’s failure to develop the area.

In an exclusive interview with the TNIE, former CM Rawat took a dig at the BJP government, saying, “Merely putting up hoardings and building structures doesn’t make a place a capital. The mindset of the government’s MLAs should also be in favor of holding sessions in Gairsain.”

Rawat further taunted, “If they can even tell me the address of a single government office related to Summer capital Gairsain or even a peon working in that office, I will start believing in the BJP’s intentions.”

Reacting sharply over Rawat’s remark, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Premchand Aggarwal has accused the Congress of having a double standard on the issue of Gairsain.

Aggarwal told this reporter, “Last year, the government had decided to hold a session in Gairsain, but Congress MLAs had objected to it. Now, with the government set to hold a monsoon session in the summer capital, Congress leaders are threatening to hold protests and demonstrations”.

BJP State Media Incharge Manveer Singh Chauhan told this newspaper, ‘Congress leader Harish Rawat’s affinity for Gairsain is nothing but a farce. Rawat, who had boycotted the last Gairsain session himself, is now claiming to be concerned about the issue, which is laughable”.

“During his chief ministership, Rawat failed to notice the infighting within the Congress party, and now he is claiming that something is amiss in the opposition BJP, which is absurd”, said Chauhan, adding he told, “Rawat is unhappy and not getting the importance he deserves within the Congress party.”

In a recent by-election, the Congress party defeated the BJP in two seats, Kedarnath and Mangalore, and is now riding high on a new wave of enthusiasm. The party has set its sights on the upcoming Badrinath by-election.

Despite the BJP’s significant majority in the 70-member assembly, with 46 seats, the Congress has increased its tally from 18 to 20 seats, with three others. The Badrinath seat was vacated due to the demise of BJP MLA Shaila Rani Rawat.