Harak Singh Rawat was putting pressure on the party, says Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami

Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who sacked Harak Singh Rawat from his Cabinet, said on Monday (January 17) that Rawat was putting pressure on the party for tickets to his family members.

"Uttarakhand BJP Minister Harak Singh Rawat was putting pressure on the party (seeking party tickets) for his family members but we have a different policy, only one member of a family will be given a party ticket for elections," Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami is quoted as saying by an ANI report.

Ahead of assembly polls, Harak Singh Rawat was dismissed from the Uttarakhand cabinet and was also expelled from the BJP for six years. Rawat is reportedly angry because the BJP did not give Assembly ticket to his daughter-in-law.

Citing close aide of the minister, ANI report said that Rawat along with his daughter-in-law can join Congress as he was in touch with the Congress and talks were on to get him in along with two other BJP MLAs.

Rawat was said to be nursing a grouse against the BJP leadership for quite some time and had expressed his resentment publicly. He had even skipped the party meeting to select candidates in Dehradun on Saturday. 

Harak Singh Rawat today broke down while speaking about his expulsion from the Uttarakhand BJP Cabinet. "Union Minister Pralhad Joshi called me to meet in Delhi, due to traffic there was a bit of delay. I wanted to meet him and Home Minister Amit Shah, but as soon as I reached Delhi, I saw on social media that they (BJP) expelled me," the expelled Uttarakhand BJP Minister is quoted as saying by ANI. 

He further told ANI that "They (BJP) didn't talk to me once before taking such a big decision. If I hadn't left Congress to join BJP, I would have resigned from BJP 4 years ago. I don't have much interest in being a minister, I just wanted to work."

In 2016, Harak Singh Rawat had led a rebellion against the then Harish Rawat government when nine rebel MLAs including him left the Congress and joined the BJP. 

Notably, Congress has taken back Yashpal Arya, who was also BJP MLA, and his son. Both Harak Singh Rawat and Yashpal Arya were among ten MLAs who had rebelled against Harish Rawat and crossed over to the BJP in 2016.

In the last Assembly election, BJP secured the win on 57 seats out of 70 Assembly constituencies in Uttarakhand. The state Assembly polls to elect the 70 members will be held on February 14, while the counting will take place on March 10. 

(With Agency Inputs)