Harish Rawat, other top state leaders to meet party high command in Delhi today

 Rawat would be accompanied by Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Pritam Singh, Uttarakhand Congress chairman Ganesh Godiyal, and party leader Yashpal Arya.

Tensions appear to be rising in the Uttarakhand Congress ahead of the state's approaching Assembly elections, with former Chief Minister Harish Rawat and other prominent politicians meeting the party's high leadership in Delhi today. This happened a day after Rawat accused the party's leadership of refusing to cooperate with him. Rawat would be accompanied by Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Pritam Singh, Uttarakhand Congress chairman Ganesh Godiyal, and party leader Yashpal Arya.

Rawat remarked on Wednesday, in a veiled assault on the Congress leadership, that "nominees of those on whose instructions one has to swim (in the election war) are binding my hands and feet." Taking to Twitter, the senior Congress leader voiced his displeasure with the factionalism in the state unit, noting that the idea had crossed his mind that "it is time to relax." 

"The ruling dispensation has a plethora of crocodiles. Their candidates are binding my wrists and feet, according to on whose instructions one needs to swim," the former chief minister had said.

Uttarakhand will have Legislative Assembly elections in February 2022 to elect 70 members. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has yet to declare the date of the state elections. The current assembly's tenure, which was elected in 2017, will end on March 23, 2022. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress Party are the leading rivals in the Himalayan state's Assembly elections. Meanwhile, Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has entered the race.