Former Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat Holds Luncheon, Claims Majority Wins For Congress, Eyes CM’s Post Again

Long before the bookies predicted a Congress win in the Uttarakhand state assemblies, former party CM Harish Rawat threw a celebratory lunch. The select few present witnessed Rawat’s claim on Congress winning the elections with a tally of 48 from the 70 assembly seats.  Oddly, there were few believers in his party over his predictions, most convinced it was Rawat’s ploy to prop himself up for CM if the Congress party won. “It is going to be a very close call in as many as 15 seats. The election can simply go either way,” said a senior Uttarakhand Congress leader. Rawat was very upset as he was not projected as the CM face and so, claiming a decisive win while staking his claim to the top office. Rahul Gandhi is learnt to be backing CLP leader Pritam Singh. As for the BJP, which is banking on PM Narendra Modi’s charisma to be voted back to power, the party admits that the organisational network in the hill state is a treacherous terrain. Even as Pushkar Singh Dhami instilled some hope among the party cadre, many seniors including former CMs worked overtime to defeat the BJP. Even for the Congress, the return of ex-party leaders like Harak Rawat into the party-fold has not proved to be a smooth affair.