Harak desperate to rejoin BJP
PrashantNews
Just a month before the assembly elections in Uttarakhand in 2022, former Uttarakhand minister Harak Singh Rawat was dismissed from the state cabinet and expelled from the primary membership of the BJP for six years for anti-party activities.
Later, he rejoined Congress but couldn’t get a ticket to contest from Doiwala seat. Instead, Congress fielded his daughter in law Anukriti Gusain from Lansedown. However, she lost.
And now, Rawat is desperate to rejoin the BJP. One apparent reason could be that he is being summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) along with his daughter in law in a money laundering case.
At a time when scores of Congress leaders are making beeline to enter the BJP, the ruling party is finding itself in a big dilemma in the case of Rawat as it is facing blistering attack by Congress which is claiming that criminal cases against all the tainted leaders who recently joined the saffron party are being withdrawn. Congress has been taunting BJP over the CBI filing a closure report in a 2017 corruption case against NCP leader Praful Patel and said the ruling party’s “fully automatic washing machine works on the principle – join BJP, case closed.”
Secondly, Rawat’s entry into BJP also depends on the mood of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who in 2022 had angrily dismissed Rawat from the cabinet after getting reports that he was hobnobbing with top Congress leaders. “As of now, we can only say it all depends on our honourable Chief Minister to decide whether Rawat should be allowed to rejoin BJP,” said a top BJP Leader.
BJP state President Mahendra Bhatt has ruled out the possibility of Rawat joining the saffron party dismissed such reports as mere rumors.
Meanwhile, Rawat has got breather from the ED as the next date of summon might be given only after the elections. He was to appear before the ED yesterday. “The next date of summon may be after the election,” said a leader close to Rawat.