By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 27 Oct: Congress has declared former MLA Manoj Rawat as its candidate for the Kedarnath Assembly by-election. A former journalist who was once associated with the news platform, Tehelka.com, Rawat previously represented Kedarnath Assembly as an MLA from 2017 till 2022. He lost to Shaila Rani Rawat of the BJP in the 2022 assembly elections. Rawat is considered quite close to veteran Congress leader Harish Rawat. Party sources claimed that his candidature was strongly opposed by PCC Chief Karan Mahara, but strongly supported by the Congress leader in charge of party affairs in Uttarakhand, Kumari Selja.
Despite trong opposition to his candidature within the party, the Congress High Command has placed its trust once again in Manoj Rawat. A letter issued by Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal this morning stated that, on the recommendation of Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge, Manoj Rawat is being declared the Congress candidate for the Kedarnath Assembly by-election.
It may be recalled that Manoj Rawat had served as the MLA from Kedarnath between 2017 and 2022. In 2022, Congress again placed confidence in him, but he finished third in the election, behind BJP’s Shaila Rani Rawat and independent Kuldeep Rawat, who has since joined the BJP and is a strong contender for the BJP ticket.
It may also be pointed here that senior Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat, too, had announced his desire to contest the by-poll by citing his record of winning past elections, but the party did not take his claim seriously. He was not even included in the panel of names sent to the Party High Command two days ago. Sources also claimed that Mahara favoured the candidature of Sheeshpal Singh Bisht, who is also a state spokesman of the party.
One day before the candidate was announced, a significant meeting of the Congress Coordination Committee was held in Dehradun, yesterday. In this meeting, the Kedarnath by-election was discussed in detail. After the meeting, Congress State President Karan Mahara spoke about the unity of the Congress. He said that the Congress is going to contest the Kedarnath by-election with full strength, with all the big leaders of Congress on duty.
While the UKD, too, has declared its candidate, BJP was yet to declare its candidate till the time this story was filed.