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Congress' Harish Rawat says focus now on 2022 Uttarakhand assembly polls after being relieved from duties in Punjab
“Satisfied in knowing that Punjab Congress will go ahead on the path of development and I can focus on my new responsibility as Uttarakhand Congress campaign committee Chairman,” Harish Rawat said.
After being relieved from his duties as the Congress in-charge of Punjab and Chandigarh, senior party leader Harish Rawat on Friday said that he would now focus on the Uttarakhand assembly elections scheduled for next year. Earlier in July 2021, Rawat was appointed by the party to oversee the 2022 election committee in Uttarakhand.
On Friday, the Congress party announced that Rajasthan revenue minister Harish Chaudhary would replace Rawat as the party’s in-charge for Punjab, which is also scheduled to go to polls next year.
Following this, Rawat said that he has been requesting the party’s central command to allow him to serve his native state, Uttarakhand. “Satisfied in knowing that Punjab Congress will go ahead on the path of development and I can focus on my new responsibility as Uttarakhand Congress campaign committee Chairman. I was requesting party leadership for [an] opportunity to do justice to Congress in my ‘matrubhumi’ (homeland),” news agency ANI quoted Rawat as saying.
Also read | Rajasthan minister Harish Chaudhary replaces Harish Rawat as Punjab Congress in-charge
Further, the Congress veteran also thanked the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi and MP Rahul Gandhi for accepting his request to be relieved from Punjab. He also thanked the party’s Punjab unit, especially chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and the party’s state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Earlier in the day, the party said in an order, “Harish Rawat is being relieved from his current responsibility as AICC General Secretary In-Charge of Punjab and Chandigarh. He shall continue as member CWC. The party appreciates his contribution as General Secretary.”
Rawat saw the Punjab unit through a period of turmoil due to the feud between former CM Amarinder Singh and the current state chief of the party Navjot Sidhu. However, the dust appeared to have settled in Punjab with the resignation of Singh and Sidhu being asked to continue as the state unit’s chief.
Earlier on October 20, Rawat, in a series of tweets, had cited the state assembly elections in both Punjab and Uttarakhand next year and had expressed his desire to concentrate more on Uttarakhand and asked to be relieved from his duties in Punjab.
