Harish Rawat treks to Kedarnath, scoffs at BJP’s rebuilding claims
A week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed visit to the shrine was cancelled, Congress leader and former chief minister Harish Rawat on Sunday begun trekking to the shrine.
Kedarnath shrine seems to have become a political hotbed in Uttarakhand. A week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed visit to the shrine was cancelled, Congress leader and former chief minister Harish Rawat on Sunday begun trekking to the shrine.
The shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva reopened for pilgrims on April 29. Rawat along with a dozen of Congress leaders started for Kedarnath on foot from Gaurikund in Rudraprayag district.
Septuagenarian Rawat was appointed the chief minister in early 2014 with a primary task to rebuild Kedarnath shrine and valley after the 2013 flash floods.
The Congress leader, who lost the assembly polls last year, said he has a dual purpose to visit Kedarnath.
While speaking with HT over phone, the former chief minister said: “The divine power of Kedarnath ji brought me to the shrine. Secondly, I would like to cross-check the claims made by (the BJP government) on reconstruction works.”
Although it was raining in the morning and by noon the snowfall was witnessed in the shrine. The Congress leader said he will beat the cold and analyse the truth behind reconstruction works.
“At a first glance, I can say by sure that no work has taken place. The road to Kedarnath remains the same and the government has not moved beyond the point our government left,” he asserted.
The former chief minister said after returning, he would make a comparative chart of the last two years to show what the status of work in the valley. “Let the truth prevails. The BJP government has made enough claims and went into extent claim credit for our works,” he added.
The Kedarnath remains the crucial political issue in the hill state. The Modi government particularly has been focusing in the Kedar valley.
With the general elections due next year, the state government has sped up works to be completed before the polls.
The Congress apparently knows this and therefore Rawat, who says he was the man behind the reconstruction works, does not want to let go things out of the hands of his party.
BJP state unit president Ajay Bhatt, meanwhile, said the former chief minister should understand that he is “passé now”.
Bhatt advised Rawat to leave the “drama and rather focus on constructive things”.
