While the state Congress president Pritam Singh is all set to embark on his ‘Parivartan Yatra’ starting from January 21 the ‘Myar Maiti’ Yatra of the former chief minister Harish Rawat has been generating a tremendous public response. Things are growing interesting as both are inimical to each other and are determined to call the shots for the upcoming general election slated this year, say the observers.
The yatra of the veteran Congress leader covered Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts on Thursday. At Karanprayag in Chamoli district, Rawat’s entourage received a huge welcome as the people in their hordes thronged to listen to him. Addressing a public meeting at the main market of Karanprayag, Rawat said that he has come here to remind the people of the developmental model he had envisioned while in power. He listed out the achievement of the Congress-helmed government and lashed out at the Union government and Trivendra Singh Rawat government of Uttarakhand for trashing the developmental interests of the state. He further said that those who had promised to provide 2 crore jobs and deposit Rs 15 lakh into bank account of every citizen have simply vanished. Launching a diatribe on Trivendra Singh Rawat government, the former CM said that it has stopped many welfare schemes initiated by the previous government which would cost the BJP dear in the Lok Sabha election.
He said that the people of the country are waiting impatiently to show the saffron party the door of exit. “They are determined to make Rahul Gandhi the next Prime Minister of the country,” he said. The former CM also addressed public meetings and led road shows at Rudraprayag, Srinagar, Kirtinagar, Byasi and Rishikesh on the day. The Kedarnath MLA Manoj Rawat and former minister Mantri Prasad Naithani besides a large number of Congress leaders accompanied Rawat on the day.
Later talking to the media persons in Rishikesh, Rawat said that the purpose of his yatra was to galvanise the Congress workers into the poll mode.
He claimed that the morale of the Congress workers is very high and palpable. “I am sure that the party is all set to bag all the five Lok Sabha seats in the state in a clean sweep,” he added.
Rawat has been hyper- active in the state since he threw a seasonal fruit party in Dehradun on the New Year. He later hosted Khichadi parties in Dehradun and Haldwani which generated much heat in the political environment of the state.
The manoeuvring of the redoubtable leader, however, is not going down well with the camps headed by PCC president Pritam Singh and the leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Indira Hridayesh.
“The duo would together go the whole hog to take the wind out of the sails of the former chief minister in course of the yatra the state party chief is about to embark on. But it is clear as anything that Harish Rawat is still head and shoulders over the duo not just in terms of charisma but also political sagacity and craftsmanship,” said a political watcher based in Dehradun.