Trust Deficit With Youth Cost Congress Uttarakhand, Concedes Harish Rawat

Dehardun: Outgoing Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat who led the Congress to its disastrous performance in the assembly polls has conceded that his inability to bridge the trust-deficit of the youth towards the party had contributed to its dismal performance.

The youth make up for over half of Uttarakhand's 75 lakh voters, half of them in the 19-29 age group.

Mr Rawat said somewhere, a major trust-deficit existed on the part of the youth towards him and his party.

"The whole of Uttarakhand wanted change and youngsters are included in that. Still, I would like to tell youngsters that we will continue to fulfil our major poll promises, but now while sitting in opposition," the chief minister told NDTV.

In the run-up to the elections, Mr Rawat had promised the youth free smart phones, jobs to 20 lakh and control distress-migration of youth from the state by 2022.

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But how did the youth of Uttarakhand respond?

"There's a difference between claims and evidence. Change is necessary, for after all, development only happens when a new government comes to power," said 22 year old Prateek, a student from Chakrata.

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"I have voted for Modi in these elections. I don't know about leaders from Uttarakhand, but Modi has an image which resonates with the youngsters across the state. Only he can do something for the youth," said 21-year-old Aryaveer Kothiyal.

"The Congress was unable to do anything about this so we will have to give BJP a chance; let's see what happens in the next 5 years," said Tejas, 19, a first-time voter from Dehradun. A state-level athlete, Nitesh, 20, echoed him. "I have given my first-time vote to Modi for he seems like a leader who will take us all forward," he added.