Indira Hridayesh blames Harish Rawat for poor show of Congress in assembly poll

Dehradun: Uttarakhand Congress leader Indira Hridayesh has said former chief minister Harish Rawat should take the blame for the party's dismal showing in the assembly elections as it went to polls with him at the helm.

Speaking at a programme in Haridwar yesterday, Hridayesh, who was made the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly recently, said: "Rawat should take the resposiblity for the party's drubbing as the electoral battle was fought under his leadership."

She said Rawat himself losing both the seats he had contested was a "dark chapter of politics".

Apparently hurt by Hridayesh's outburst, Rawat issued a statement through his former media advisor Surendra Kumar, saying he had already publicly owned up responsibility for the the Congress's defeat and he is ready to offer himself if party leaders feel he deserves some punishment.

"I have already owned up responsibility for the party's defeat publicly immediately after the polls. Still, if PCC president Kishore Upadhyay and the Leader of Opposition Indira Hridayesh want to subject me to some punishment, I readily offer myself," Rawat said in the statement.