Harish Rawat clarifies he hasn't quit Congress posts, but may resign over ED action

Senior Congress leader and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Saturday clarified that he has not resigned from any party post, saying he would be willing to step down from the positions he holds if Enforcement Directorate (ED) actions undermine the Congress’s narrative of fighting corruption.Harish Rawat clarified that he has only stepped down from a position and not resigned from the Congress party. (X/@harishrawatcmuk)Rawat said he would consider resigning as a member of the state executive committee and the AICC Working Committee if the recent ED action in Dehradun weakened the party’s stand against corruption.In a social media post, Rawat said Congress membership runs through his “blood and bones”, describing it as central to his identity and something that would remain with him even in the afterlife.Referring to the recent ED searches in Dehradun as a “hypocritical spectacle”, the former chief minister said he did not want any of his actions to weaken the party’s struggle against corruption.The clarification came after the ED searched the premises of Chandan Singh Jeena, who is presently serving as Rawat’s personal assistant and had earlier served as his officer on special duty (OSD) during Rawat’s tenure as chief minister from 2014 to 2017.The searches were carried out in connection with a money-laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the 2016 Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission recruitment examination.He said his commitment to the Congress remained fundamental to his identity, while making it clear that he did not want anything associated with him to adversely affect the party’s campaign against corruption.This development has come at a time when both the BJP and Congress have begun stepping up organisational activity ahead of the 2027 Uttarakhand assembly elections.Harish Rawat has contested Lok Sabha polls nine times so far. He has been an MP five times. Thrice, he was elected from the Almora constituency in 1980, 1984 and 1989, while once from Haridwar in 2009. He was also a Rajya Sabha MP between 2002 and 2008.He was the Union minister of water resources in UPA-2 from 2012-14 and won the legislative seat from Dharchula in 2014. Despite Rawat’s defeat in the 2017 assembly polls from two seats, Haridwar Rural and Kiccha, the party’s central leadership gave him a ticket to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seat.He was defeated in this election also by BJP’s Ajay Bhat, with a margin of 3,39,096 votes. In the 2022 assembly polls, he lost the election from Lalkuan to BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht by 17,527 votes.