Harish Rawat Took Out Individual Campaign. Then Came Congress' Warning

Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat undertook a thanksgiving and public outreach yatra on Monday, after which the Congress issued a stern warning to him that individual campaigns would not be tolerated.

Rawat met Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal in Delhi a day before launching the yatra. He is set to meet the party's state in-charge, Kumari Selja, in the next few days to present his perspective.

"Met with Uttarakhand Ex-CM Sh. Harish Rawat ji, to discuss on the ongoing campaigns in the election-going state. It was made clear that our campaigns will be taken forward jointly along with all Uttarakhand leaders, solely under the Congress banner under Hon'ble Sh. Mallikarjun Kharge ji and LOP Sh. RahulGandhi ji's leadership, with the singular aim of ensuring the party's victory," Venugopal said on Monday about his meeting with Rawat the day before.

"Individual campaigns will not be tolerated by the party, and there must only be collective programmes as planned by the party organisation. The party is confident that with the energy and hard work of the entire state unit, we will emerge victorious in Uttarakhand!" Venugopal said.

With next year's Uttarakhand Assembly polls in mind, Venugopal has conveyed a message to the party organisation to campaign in a united manner.

Selja, the Congress in-charge for Uttarakhand, had written to Rawat asking him to halt the yatra. She had maintained that any parallel programme just months before the election would not be in the party's interest.

Selja noted that she has received a response to her letter from Rawat and the former chief minister would meet her on October 7 or October 8 to provide a clarification. "We are waiting to hear what he has to say," she said.

Asked if Rawat is upset, Selja said, "There is some grievance. The party has given him a great deal."

She emphasised that party discipline is crucial during election times.

Despite instructions from the Congress high command not to organise "parallel events" within the party, Rawat undertook the "Dhanyavad evam Jansamvad Yatra (Thanksgiving and Public Dialogue March)" on Monday, starting from Jaspur in Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district.

He was accompanied by former state Congress president, Chakrata MLA and Uttarakhand election campaign committee chairman Pritam Singh, Jaspur MLA Aadesh Chauhan and numerous other leaders and party workers.

During the march, Rawat said his objective is to work towards ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments from both Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)