By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 21 Feb: Veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister Harish Rawat today claimed that the election in Uttarakhand was not contested between the BJP and the Congress but between the BJP and the general public. Addressing the media at a local hotel here, today, Rawat claimed that the public had given a clear mandate to oust the BJP from power and bring in the Congress to relaunch the development process in the state. He added that the public had openly supported the Congress in the current elections. Rawat reminded the media that he had held rallies in 44 assembly constituencies and had undertaken 22 padyatras during the Congress campaign. He also claimed that his feedback was that voters from at least 60 Assembly constituencies were with the Congress. He also claimed that Congress would easily win around 48 seats in the elections.
At the same time, though, the former CM again expressed apprehension regarding BJP tampering with EVMs through modern technology and viruses. He claimed that such discussions were going on in the UP elections that BJP was conspiring to play with EVMs. It might also happen that on the day of counting of votes, some bug is used with the help of Israel in order to manipulate the EVMs.
Rawat said that as soon as he expressed this apprehension, State President Ganesh Godiyal took immediate serious action. All the Congress candidates and office bearers were instructed to closely monitor the counting centres.
Rawat also claimed that people are angry with Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks about him that he would remain neither ‘Ghar Ka nor Ghat Ka’ and this remark had gone against the BJP with people voting against this remark. He also added that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had also claimed that it was BJP’s internal matter how many times it had to change the CM, and this remark would prove to be the last nail in the BJP’s coffin. Rawat said that the Congress had worked honestly on its manifesto. If this manifesto was implemented keeping its ambitions limited, then no one would be able to defeat Congress over the next 20 years.
In response to a question on how the funds would be arranged to fulfill the promises of the manifesto, Rawat claimed that between 2014 and 2017 the Congress government had shown how to get out of the worst kind of situation and take the revenue growth to a record level. The Congress would again repeat the same success.
Rawat said that BJP wanted give a message to Kumaon by making a CM from Khatima. But Congress destroyed the Khatima tactic of BJP in Kumaon, itself. The results from Almora Lok Sabha seat and Haridwar Lok Sabha seat would undoubtedly be unexpected, he claimed
Rawat also played an emotional pitch by expressing his sympathies with former CM Trivendra Singh Rawat, claiming that he had been treated very disrespectfully by the BJP. Tickets were distributed by the BJP in arbitrary manner. He also claimed that it was not appropriate to remove any CM after having him for four and a half years just before the next elections. Rawat also claimed that Trivendra Singh Rawat’s closeness to him (Harish Rawat) was perhaps considered to be a sin by the BJP leadership and he was removed as CM without assigning any reason. On the confusion in the bureaucracy allegedly prevailing over the new government, Rawat claimed that any bureaucrat working in the interest of the state would not have any problem with the Congress government.
