Rawat to contest from Dharchula constituency

Congress MLA from Dharchula Harish Dhami on Tuesday resigned to vacate the seat for his political guru

Choosing a safe seat, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat has decided to contest from Dharchula constituency to become MLA under constitutional obligation.

The move came after Congress MLA from Dharchula, Harish Dhami, on Tuesday submitted his resignation to the Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal to vacate seat for Rawat. This also means Rawat has rejected the idea of sending his political rival and former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna to the Rajya Sabha. Bahuguna was ready to vacate his Sitarganj seat for Rawat as quid pro quo for the Rajya Sabha seat.

Rawat has been wooing voters in Dharchula and Doiwala Assembly seats since past one month by announcing various developmental projects and sops worth more than Rs 500 crore.

Under constitution obligation, Rawat, who took oath on February 1 this year must become an MLA within six months of the swearing-in ceremony. This means the Assembly election in Dharchula will be held along with Doiwala and Someshwar seats which had also fell vacant after the Lok Sabha election.

After bestowing ministerial rank posts to disgruntled MLAs to ward off any perceived political threat to his government last month, Rawat had started an exercise to choose his constituency. With Doiwala seat falling vacant after the resignation of former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, the speculation was rife the Chief Minister might try to wrest this seat for the Congress from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But since his wife Renuka’s performance was below par from Doiwala, Rawat did not muster any courage.

In view of a strong Modi wave during the Lok Sabha election, Rawat had started looking for a safe constituency. In this regard, Rawat had been regularly flying to Dharchula in Pithoragarh district from where Congress candidate Pradip Tamta’s performance was better. The BJP is also reportedly looking for a suitable candidate to contest against him.