DEHRADUN: Former Uttarakhand chief minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat returned to the state from Delhi on Sunday after recovering from a prolonged illness, receiving a rousing welcome from party workers during a roadshow to Dehradun.
Rawat began his homecoming journey by paying tribute to the martyrs of the Uttarakhand statehood movement at the memorial in Rampur Tiraha. Several sitting and former Congress legislators accompanied him.
His convoy subsequently travelled through Narsan, Manglaur, Roorkee and Haridwar before reaching Dehradun. Congress workers gathered in large numbers at several places along the route to welcome the former chief minister, turning his return into a visible show of strength.
The event, however, drew a sharp response from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, with its senior leaders describing the roadshow as an attempt by Rawat to reassert his influence within the Congress.
BJP MLA Vinod Chamoli termed the event “political drama” and accused Rawat of using the public reception to put pressure on his party’s leadership.
“No politician can match Harish Rawat when it comes to theatrics,” Chamoli said. “Until yesterday, he was talking about resigning, and today he is arranging a grand welcome for himself. The truth is that the Congress stands exposed before the people and its leaders have become politically irrelevant.”
Chamoli alleged that the former chief minister had little concern for either the Congress organisation or the idea of “Uttarakhandiyat”, and was merely attempting to regain political leverage through a show of strength.
“He is trying to mount pressure on the Congress leadership once again. This exercise has nothing to do with the party or Uttarakhand’s identity,” the BJP legislator claimed.
BJP state chief spokesperson Suresh Joshi also took a swipe at Rawat, saying such programmes would have no bearing on the 2027 Uttarakhand Assembly election.
“The Congress wants to get rid of Harish Rawat, who has created a record of electoral defeats, while the people want to get rid of the Congress,” Joshi said. “Such demonstrations and political events will not change the outcome in 2027.”
BJP MLA Munna Singh Chauhan questioned the intended audience for Rawat’s roadshow.
“The Congress should clarify whom this show of strength was meant for — the party high command, the state Congress leadership, or those questioning Harish Rawat’s political relevance,” Chauhan said.
He claimed Rawat had been steadily marginalised within the Congress and that the development was widely known.
“This roadshow appears to be another chapter in the battle for leadership and political dominance within the Congress,” Chauhan added.