Uttarakhand: Congress peddles new theory on Rawat's ouster; claims 'real target is Mamata'

Peddling a new conspiracy theory, Congress alleged that BJP had asked Uttarakhand CM Tirath Singh Rawat to resign to target West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. Addressing a press briefing on Saturday, Deputy Leader of Opposition in Uttarakhand Assembly Karan Mahara quashed Rawat's explanation that he put in his papers to avert a constitutional crisis. A sitting Lok Sabha member, Rawat had less than three months left to get elected to the state Assembly.

He was replaced by Pushkar Singh Dhami as the Election Commission was unlikely to conduct a by-election owing to the COVID-19 situation and the fact that less than a year is left for the Assembly polls. According to Mahara, the PM did not want to face a challenge from Banerjee who successfully led TMC to a third consecutive victory in West Bengal while losing from Nandigram. He contended that BJP was using Tirath Singh Rawat as a scapegoat to ensure that by-elections are not held in WB thereby forcing the TMC supremo to step down. 

Senior Congress leader Karan Mahara remarked, "The real issue is that the target is not Tirath but Mamata Banerjee. The way she has challenged the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi). We also know that the PM does not tolerate any challenge. We have seen what happened to LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi". He added, "The way (the Centre) misuses constitutional authorities, they will sacrifice Tirath to ensure that Mamata does not contest". 

West Bengal government pushes for early by-elections

Incidentally, this comes a day after the TMC government urged the EC to conduct by-elections to 6 Assembly seats at the earliest. Responding to the poll body's missive on the possibility of holding elections to two vacant Rajya Sabha seats, it assured that all COVID-19 protocols will be adhered to in the process. On June 23, Mamata Banerjee had told reporters that by-elections could be held within 7 days as the novel coronavirus situation in the country is currently "under control".

She has already moved the Calcutta High Court challenging Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari's victory in Nandigram despite the fact that Bhawanipore MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay has resigned to pave way for her election. The polls were countermanded in Jangipur and Samserganj following the death of RSP's Pradip Nandi and Congress' Rezaul Haque respectively due to COVID-19. Three other seats are lying vacant as Gosaba MLA Jayanta Naskar passed away after winning the 2021 polls and the winning BJP candidates from Dinhata and Santipur chose to retain their Lok Sabha seats.