'Harish Rawat experienced leader but...': Congress to announce CM post-polls

Uttarakhand Congress in-charge Devender Yadav on Saturday said that the party will announce its chief ministerial candidate after the polls. He stated that the party believes in elections through "collective leadership." Assembly elections in Uttarakhand are due to be held next year.

On asked about Harish Rawat as the CM face for the upcoming elections, Yadav told ANI, "Harish Rawat is an experienced leader but we believe in elections through collective leadership. When people are elected, the party will itself take the call (to choose CM face)."

Ahead of the crucial polls, Congress has appointed Ganesh Godiyal as the new state chief. The party also appointed four working presidents Bhuvan Kapdi, Jeet Ram, Ranjeet Rawat and Tilak Raj Behar. While former Chief Minister Harish Rawat has been appointed the Campaign Committee chief for the state.

AAP appoints Ajay Kothiyal as Uttarakhand CM candidate

While the grand old party is mum, the Aam Aadmi Party has announced retired Colonel Ajay Kothiyal as its CM candidate. Kothiyal, the former principal of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) at Uttarkashi, joined the Arvind Kejriwal's party on April 20. Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia had said that the AAP will work on the lines of the Delhi model after coming to power in the state.

Changing CMs trend in Uttarakhand

Since the formation of Uttarakhand in 2000, the hilly state has been ruled by both BJP and Congress. From the beginning, there has been a trend of changing the CMs. Nityanand Swami was the first CM of Uttarakhand who was replaced by Bhagat Singh Koshyari in 2002. After Congress came to power, its CM Narayan Dutt Tiwari completed his full term. In 2007, 2009 and 2001, the saffron party had two CMs Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'. Similarly, Congress replaced Vijay Bahuguna with Harish Rawat.

Recently, the Bharatiya Janata Party announced Pushkar Singh Dhami as the new Uttarakhand Chief Minister after Tirath Singh Rawat resigned from the post. In March 2021, Tirath had replaced Trivendra Singh Rawat after a section of party MLAs were unhappy with him.