I should not have contested polls, but concentrated on consolidating party: Harish Rawat

DEHRADUN: Former Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat while on a visit to Haldwani on Saturday, said in a media interaction that looking back, he felt he should not have contested the

state assembly elections

but instead spent his energy in consolidating the party. "When I analyse things now, I feel that only one of us -- either I or (state Congress chief)

Kishore Upadhyay

-- should have fought the polls. Our time could have been better spent in consolidating the party."

The 69-year-old ex-chief minister lost from both the seats that he contested from, Kichha in

Udham Singh Nagar

, and Haridwar (rural) in Haridwar district. His dual loss came as a big surprise for many political watchers who were expecting him to win at least one, if not both the seats. On the reasons for fielding himself from two seats, Rawat said, “At that time, we felt that we should lead from the front.”

Rawat who was the most prominent face of the Congress in the

assembly elections

and was being seen as a direct challenger to PM Modi, addressed multiple rallies across the state relying on his 'son-of-the-soil' image to woo voters. But the voters rejected the Congress pitch leading to the party suffering its worst-ever defeat in all the polls held in the state so far. Soon after the results, Rawat said that he was completely responsible for the outcome since the election was fought under his leadership. “We will regroup and perform better,” he added.