Dehra Dun: Calling for a review of Congress`
performance in Uttarakhand polls, Union minister Harish Rawat
today said although chief minister Vijay Bahuguna has taken
steps to address apprehensions of his supporters, "some more
steps have to be taken."
"There were lots of apprehensions. The chief minister has
taken some steps to fulfil the aspiration of our supporters
and some more steps have to be taken," Rawat told reporters
when asked whether he has resolved all issues within the
party.
Justifying his stand, he said it was not wrong to stand
by his supporters at that stage.
On being asked about his reference of "some concrete
proposals", Rawat said these proposals have been received and
studied. However, he did not divulge more information in this
regard.
Referring to his stand on creation of two posts of deputy
chief ministers, Rawat said he still stands by his stand as
the election results were "unexpected".
But he said the decision regarding the posts of deputy CM
has to be taken by the party high command and not by the chief
minister.
However, Rawat said he was sure that the new government
would complete its full term and that he had merely made some
"requests" to the party high command.
When asked about Furkan Ahmed, an MLA from Piran Kaliyar,
for not being given any Cabinet berth, Rawat said "it was
unfortunate, despite being the only Muslim MLA of Congress in
the state he was not given the berth."
"I welcome the chief minister`s move to give the post of
parliamentary secretary to Ahmed, but I hope that in future
the chief minister will give him additional responsibilities,"
Rawat said.
When asked whether an assessment will be made of the
Assembly election results, Rawat called for the review of the
results saying the party lost most of the seats in its
stronghold of Udhamsingh Nagar district.
"I agree that we lost both in Haridwar and Udham Singh
Nagar. But in Haridwar, we manage to improve ourselves but
lost most of our gains in Terai region of Udhamsingh Nagar,"
Rawat said.
Rawat came to Dehra Dun this morning to stand by the
chief minister in the Vidhan Sabha where nomination papers of
the speaker were filed.
After that, he accompanied the chief minister to Srinagar
where six people were killed in a bridge collapse.
PTI
