Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, who stepped down from his post last year, on Wednesday announced that he will not contest the 2022 assembly elections in Uttarakhand. Rawat announced his decision to his party’s cadres at a “farewell lunch” before writing to the BJP national president, Jagat Prakash Nadda.
Rawat told The Times of India that he personally informed his party workers to avoid any “misleading impression”. “I hosted the lunch as party members and supporters are extremely emotional. I did not want them to get a wrong or misleading impression when the list comes out and they are shocked to find my name missing. I wanted to avoid any kind of confusion, so I decided to personally tell them over lunch.”
Rawat said that he chose not take part in elections as the party is “contemplating a bigger role for him”. “Now the state has a youth chief minister and it is our duty to back him. I have requested all my supporters to back the new BJP candidate from Doiwala,” he said.
The BJP on Wednesday released the name of one more candidate for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, fielding Mukta Raja from Aligarh. With this, the BJP has so far announced 110 candidates for the state assembly polls, where the party is contesting elections in an alliance with the Apna Dal and the Nishad Party. The party on Wednesday announced that Mukta Raja will be its candidate from Aligarh assembly.
Earlier in the day, the top brass of the BJP including its president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah held deliberations with Uttar Pradesh unit leaders including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to finalise the remaining candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. The BJP leaders also held meetings with Apnal Dal leader Anupriya Patel and Nishad Party leader Sanjay Nishad to finalise the seat sharing agreement.
With inputs from News18
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