Congress MP Pradeep Tamta bats for Harish Rawat as CM face in Uttarakhand
Pradeep Tamta gave the example of the last assembly election in Haryana and claimed that not naming Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the chief ministerial candidate cost the Congress heavily.
Days after former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat urged the Congress leadership to name a CM face for the 2022 assembly election in the state, the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Pradeep Tamta backed Rawat for the top job.
On Thursday, Tamta said that Rawat was the most popular face of the Congress in Uttarakhand and as such he should be projected as the chief ministerial candidate in the 2022 assembly election.
“If the party high command declares another face other than Rawat in the state that too will be acceptable, but Harish Rawat is the most suitable and popular face among party workers and voters,” Tamta said at a press conference in Haldwani.
Tamta, who is a supporter of Rawat, said declaring him as the CM face will be beneficial for the Congress in the election. “The party should declare a CM face since there is confusion in party workers in the state and it may create disillusionment among them. Delay in projecting Bhupendra Singh Hooda as CM in Haryana, ousted the party from the power while in Punjab and Karnataka the party got the advantage as it had declared a CM face before the elections”, he said.
A few days ago, Harish Rawat had urged the party leadership to project the CM face under whose leadership the coming election would be contested. Other than Tamta, no one has yet backed Rawat as a chief ministerial candidate. In one of his social media posts, Rawat had ruled himself out of contention.
Congress unit president in Uttarakhand, Pritam Singh and leader of opposition in the assembly Indira Hridayesh opposed Rawat, saying the party should contest assembly election under collective leadership.
Amid the tug of war in the party, Tamta's backing of Rawat may now fuel more controversy in the party.
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