Continuing his candid comments on social media, along with his hectic tour of the State, the former Chief Minister and general secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC) Harish Rawat has now made his hurt feelings public. In response to the collective leadership line toed by the Congress organisation, Rawat on Wednesday stated that he is being deliberately ignored.

“It had become clear that I am not suitable for collective leadership on the day when the mascot general secretary organisation of the party didn’t even consider announcing my name from the dais in the first meeting of the newly constituted office bearers of the party,’’ said Rawat in his post.

Reiterating his stand that the party should declare its Chief Ministerial face for the assembly election of 2022, Rawat said that public protests are taking place in different parts of the State and it would be prudent for the president of Uttarakhand Congress and Leader of Opposition to visit such places so that the party is associated with the public sentiments. “It is not possible for Harish Rawat to visit all these places. In such a scenario we should handover the rein to the youth in the party. To promote generation change is a service to the party and is for its better future. I am presenting myself as an example so that this trend is carried forward in other states as well,’’ he said.

Meanwhile reacting to the statements made by Harish Rawat, the LoP Indira Hridayesh said that it is for the national president of the Congress party to make any announcement on the chief ministerial candidate of the party. She said that the party has never in the past declared any CM candidate and added sarcastically that in the last election Harish Rawat was the face of the party and in that election Congress got only 11 seats in the assembly. “He (Harish Rawat) himself led the party in the last assembly elections. He contested from two seats without consulting us, which he should not have done”, said Indira Hridayesh.  “We have thirteen districts in the state. At least we could have won one seat from each district and got thirteen seats, which we did not and ended by getting eleven assembly seats”, Hridayesh added