Rawat to forgo 'safe' seat, will contest only from Dharchula now

CM relents to Bist's protest against contesting from two seat in Uttarakhand byelection on July 21

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat has decided not to contest from two Assembly seats, following protest by senior Congress leader Hira Singh Bist.

Rawat would now contest only from Dharchula Assembly seat in the byelection to be held on July 21.

The Congress on Thursday released the list of candidates who would be contesting from all the three Assembly seats in the coming byelection.

In yet another significant move, Rawat has roped in Rekha Arya to contest from Someshwar reserved seat after she quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday and joined the Congress.

Dharchula seat was recently vacated by Rawat's loyal MLA Harish Dhami. Bist, who had unsuccessfully contested from Doiwala seat in the last Assembly election against former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, had been protesting against Rawat's decision to contest from two Assembly seats.

Buckling under Bist's pressure, Rawat gave up the idea of contesting from two Assembly seats, said a senior Congress leader. And Bist will again contest from Doiwala seat this time.

Earlier, Rawat had decided to contest from two Assembly seats to enter the Vidhan Sabha in the face of a strong Modi wave in the recent Lok Sabha election and the internal neck injury problem.

With the election commission issuing poll schedule for the byelection in the hill state, Rawat, who is recovering from the injury at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at New Delhi, seems to be facing the heat both on political front as well as on health grounds.

Though Rawat has been advised operation by doctors, the sources said he cannot take a risk of the operation at this juncture as he will be bed-ridden for a longer time. On the other hand, he has to contest the Assembly election under the constitutional obligation where he must enter the Vidhan Sabha before July 31.

Interestingly, political bitterness between Rawat and former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna has also intensified lately. Bahuguna has been reportedly upset since Rawat managed to bring his close political associate Kishore Upadhayay as the new PCC chief. This was being seen as a big blow to Bahuguna, who was not on good terms with Upadhayay.

After the change of guard in February, Bahuguna still has an axe to grind. He wanted his close confidantes in the ruling Congress to get plum posts. But, this was not acceptable to Rawat.

When contacted, BJP state president Tirath Singh Rawat said the party will announce the list of candidates for three seats by June 30. "We have set up a four-member committee to finalise the candidates for the three seats," said Rawat.