“This change of guard at the last moment [in Uttarakhand by replacing Vijay Bahuguna with Harish Rawat as the new Chief Minister] will only harm the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls,” senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Uma Bharti, who is the election in-charge of Uttarakhand, said here on Friday.
Ms. Bharti was visiting the State to review the work related to the polls.
While addressing the media, Ms. Bharti said, “Harish Rawat has larger questions to answer now that he has become the Chief Minister. Mr. Rawat was a member of the committee formed by the Central government to take decisions on the rehabilitation-related works in the State.
He will have to answer what that committee did for the disaster-hit areas.”
“When nothing was done while Mr. Rawat was in the committee then this sudden drive of starting multiple projects for the disaster-affected areas in 20 days of his government is an act to cover up the criminal negligence [of the Congress here] that exacerbated the situation during the natural disaster [that occurred in June last year],” Ms. Bharti added.
She said there was a “Modi wave in the State” which would make the BJP win all the Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand.
“This wave is similar to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee wave that existed in 1998 when the BJP won all the four Lok Sabha seats from this region when it was a part of Uttar Pradesh,” she said.
On speculations over Ms. Bharti fighting the Lok Sabha polls, she said: “I have requested [BJP president] Rajnath Singh to not to make me contest elections. However, I will go by whatever Mr. Singh decides. I want to focus on the work regarding the Ganga. I will be able to dedicate less time to the cause of the Ganga if I take on the responsibility of a Lok Sabha seat,” Ms. Bharti added.
Asked On being asked for her reaction to All India Congress Committee (AICC) vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s rally in the State which is to be held on February 23, Ms. Bharti said, “Mr. Gandhi is answerable to a lot of questions regarding the tardy reconstruction and rehabilitation works here. Mr. Gandhi, wherever he goes, causes harm to the image of the Congress so we have nothing to worry about,” she added.
