Just two days left for the counting with the leaders across the political spectrum remaining edgy, the Chief Minister Harish Rawat has sounded confident of his party staging a comeback, nullifying what the pollsters say about a saffron surge in the state. “There is no doubt in my mind that the party would win 36 seats, the magic figure, out of 70 seats of the state Assembly. I am claiming this with a confidence that is invincible,” he said in an exclusive interview to The Pioneer on Wednesday at his official residence at Bijapur. “This figure is not concocted, but based on the feedback I received from the cross-section of the society while I crisscrossed the state to campaign. The under-current of resentment lurking in the atmosphere with the people at the receiving end of the demonetization drive is too palpable to miss.
Based on this, I can confidently say that my party is all set to win at least five to six seats in Haridwar district and six to seven seats in Udham Singh Nagar district. The BJP is, on the other hand, is pinning its hope on the postal ballots numbering around 97,000 for the state,” he said.
While making it clear that he is pretty serious to see at least a section of the Congress ‘turncoats’, who contested on the BJP tickets following their switch to the saffron camp, biting the dust of the polls, he named two former cabinet ministers-Yashpal Arya and Harak Singh Rawat specifically. “The people are angry with the turncoats for switching sides, throwing their ideological pretension to the winds. Most of the 14 dissidents save for one or two are set to get drubbing. Even splurging wads of money would not help the BJP to sail through. Their figure is unlikely to cross 20,” CM said.
He confirmed the speculations, swirling in the political and media circles for some time, that he had decided to contest from a seat in Udham Singh Nagar district following the jolt the party received after the cabinet minister Yashpal Arya, considered as the most redoubtable Dalit face of the party, deserted Congress and switched to BJP. “Yes. I decided to step into the district to boost the party workers. Otherwise I would have selected a seat from Nainital district,” Harish Rawat said. He also took umbrage at BJP for having attempted to bring about a communal polarization to score electorally. “However, the malicious ploy to divide the people on the basis of their religions has not yielded dividends. Rather, it has proved counter-productive,” he affirmed.
He predicted at least 20 out of the 29 seats up for grabs in Kumaon division coming to the Congress kitty. “As far Garhwal division is concerned we are likely to win 25 seats. The people across the two divisions have rejected the BJP outright for its having cheated them by dishing out of flamboyant developmental promises in the run-up to the 2014 general election,” he said.
The Congress chief ministerial candidate dwelt at length on the roadmap he had prepared to have all the promises made to the people fulfilled.
Asked about how they would manage the requisite funds to execute the promised projects, CM said that his government had spent around Rs 3000 crore over the past three years to revamp roads in the state.
“We would manage funds for other projects in the same way as we did regarding the road projects. Cash crunch would not be allowed to come in the way of the state’s development. I would see to it after the Congress government takes up the reins in a few days,” the confident-looking star campaigner of the ruling party averred.