Uttarakhand second list out, Congress fields Harish Rawat in Ramnagar

The former Chief Minister's friend-turned-foe in the party, Ranjeet Rawat, was one of the contenders for the seat. He is likely to be offered the Salt seat now although, sources said, he may consider contesting from Ramnagar as an Independent candidate.

Harish Rawat

THE CONGRESS on Monday released its second list of 11 candidates for the Uttarakhand Assembly elections, fielding Harish Rawat, who is heading the party campaign in the state, in Ramnagar constituency.

The former Chief Minister’s friend-turned-foe in the party, Ranjeet Rawat, was one of the contenders for the seat. He is likely to be offered the Salt seat now although, sources said, he may consider contesting from Ramnagar as an Independent candidate.

Ahead of the announcement of the second list of candidates, an audio clip of a purported conversation between Harish Rawat and a party worker went viral. In the clip, Harish Rawat purportedly asks if he should contest from Ramnagar. The other person replies that Ranjeet Rawat has been preparing for the seat for a long time and they were with him.

Later in the day, Ranjeet, who is also the executive president of Uttarakhand Congress, told reporters that this was bound to happen when someone suddenly arrives out of nowhere. “If a person is showing his presence somewhere, the aspirations of the people are connected with that person. Rawat ji (Harish) is a big leader, he is our campaign committee chairman. But at a time when the nomination has started, you suddenly say that you want to contest from the seat… this is how a worker will respond,” he said.

With the second list, the Congress has so far announced 64 candidates for the elections, leaving six more to go. The second list named three women candidates – same as the first.

While the name of former state minister Harak Singh Rawat, who joined the Congress recently after being expelled by the BJP, has not been named yet, his daughter-in-law Anukriti Gusain has been named for Lansdowne constituency in the second list.

Meanwhile, during his visit to the state, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel on Monday officially launched the party’s campaign with a slogan ‘Uttarakhand Swabhiman – Char Dham, Char Kaam’.

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Launching the campaign song and radio jingle, the Congress made four promises to the people. It said if a Congress government is formed, the price of LPG cylinders will be maintained below Rs 500. The second promise was of annual help of Rs 40,000 to 5 lakh families in the state. It also promised 4 lakh jobs over the next five years and health facilities for every family in the state.