Congress' Harish Rawat is a former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand Congress leader Indira Hridayesh has said that former Chief Minister Harish Rawat should take the blame for the party's dismal showing in the assembly elections as it went to polls with him at the helm.
Speaking at a programme in Haridwar yesterday, Ms Hridayesh, who was made the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly recently, said, "Rawat should take the responsiblity for the party's drubbing as the electoral battle was fought under his leadership."
She said Mr Rawat himself losing both the seats he had contested was a "dark chapter of politics".
Apparently hurt by Ms Hridayesh's outburst, Mr Rawat issued a statement through his former media advisor Surendra Kumar, and said that he had already publicly owned up responsibility for the the Congress's defeat and he is ready to offer himself if party leaders feel he deserves some punishment.
"I have already owned up responsibility for the party's defeat publicly immediately after the polls. Still, if PCC president Kishore Upadhyay and the Leader of Opposition Indira Hridayesh want to subject me to some punishment, I readily offer myself," Rawat said in the statement.
The Congress was decimated in the recent assembly elections in Uttarakhand as well as the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. In Uttarakhand, the party won 11 out of the total 70 constituencies.