Former chief minister and senior leader Harish Rawat throws party, says Congress forming government in Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN: Confident that the Congress “will win an absolute majority in Uttarakhand”, former chief minister and senior leader Harish

Rawat

threw a party on Sunday and followed it up with a media interaction on Monday. “The party (Congress) will win 48 of 70 seats. The number may vary by one or two seats, but we will be fairly close to the 50-seat mark,” Rawat announced.

He added, “It’s not so much a fight between Congress and BJP as it is between the party in office and the common man. People are fed up with BJP. The common man felt cheated when BJP changed three CMs. It did not go down well with residents suffering from inflation, unemployment, migration and the poor state of basic facilities.”

BJP was quick to respond. It said it will “come back to power by winning 60 of 70 seats”. BJP state vice-president

Devendra Bhasin

said that people had voted for development, "which was done hand-in-hand by the central and state government". He said: “Projects like the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail route,

Char Dham

all-weather road,

Dehradun-Delhi

economic corridor are results of the BJP’s vision. It was appreciated by the people. The Congress needs to sit in the opposition (benches) for another five years.”