In a strong message to his detractors in the Congress party and outside it, former chief minister and general secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC), Harish Rawat has said that he would not retire from active politics before 2024 . In his facebook post, which immediately became a talking point on Monday, the former CM said, “many people are waiting anxiously for my retirement. I would retire but in the year 2024 after making Rahul Gandhi, the prime minister of the country. My well wishers who are waiting for my retirement should have to wait until then.’’

It is worth mentioning here that on the issue of rebels coming back to Congress party’s fold the camps headed by former CM Rawat and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Pritam Singh had sharply divided opinion. Amid these talks, the agriculture minister Subodh Uniyal who too had switched sides before the assembly elections of 2017, stated that Congress is a sinking ship and advised that Harish Rawat should retire from politics. In his unique style, Rawat replied to Uniyal’s barb by stating that some warriors after taking classes from RSS are targeting him but they had just been born when he was preparing for the next battle after facing first electoral defeat. Rawat also took the Congress leaders to the task that recently has been targeting him for defeat of Congress party in the elections of 2017. “These people have not remembered their ancestors as many times they have reminded me about my electoral reverses. Many of these have not been able to get the candidate of the party elected in their own wards,’’ said Rawat in his post.