Uttarakhand Congress means Harish Rawat. For decades, the biggest face of the Congress in the hill state was Harish Rawat. Luck was also very kind to him. He was the Chief Minister of the state not once or twice but thrice. He had been the state president of the state Congress but now he suddenly bid farewell to the Congress. There were plans to undertake a statewide yatra but at the age of 78 he decided it was time to retire from state Congress politics.
Harish Rawat on Friday announced his resignation from two Congress posts. The house of his personal assistant Chandan Singh Jeena was raided by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Now a raid has been put on the alleged irregularities in the recruitment examination of Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UKSSSC) in the year 2016. The story of resignation is much different.
Harish Singh Rawat, former Chief Minister, Congress:-
There is news on TV that a huge amount of cash and jewelery etc. was seized from Harish Rawat's PA in Dehradun, this fact will be revealed in the coming time and it is true that Jeena has been my OSD and in all the positions I have held, whether in the party or in the government, he has been handling important responsibilities. Jeena is a very gentle, polite and hard-working person. If there is evidence of tampering with OMR sheets in the recruitment of Gram Sevaks and if they have committed any such mistake, then I am ashamed of their so-called audacious act. But I do not believe this allegation at all.
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Why did Harish Rawat suddenly resign?
Harish Singh Rawat himself has said that election atmosphere has started in Uttarakhand and efforts are being made to create a narrative against him. He said that whenever people asked him when the elections would be held, he used to jokingly say that the elections would be declared only when the CBI knocked at his door. This time, instead of his house, an attempt has been made to create a narrative by knocking at the house of one of his associates.
Despite neglect at the organizational level, he is not going against Congress. He clearly says that Congress is fighting against corruption. Rahul Gandhi is also raising the issue of corruption in the education system through the 'Students' Echo' campaign. At such a time, if any action related to him weakens the party's fight, he would not want it at all.
Harish Rawat, Leader, Congress:-
It is being reported in some sections of the media that Harish Rawat has resigned from the Congress Party. Brother, membership of the Congress Party is in my blood and bones, whatever Harish Rawat is, it creates everything. She will also go to heaven with me. Yes, if the hypocritical joke of the ED in Dehradun the day before yesterday and I have said that if it has any impact on the Congress Party's narrative of fighting corruption, then I would like to resign from the posts of the party that I hold – member of the State Executive and member of the Working Committee of the AICC. Therefore, I request media friends to read my post in its entirety and correct your news.
Harish Rawat has said that there is no government post from which he can resign, hence he has decided to step down from his organizational responsibilities within the Congress. He said that he is a member of the executive of Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee and a permanent invitee member of the Congress Working Committee at the national level. He wants to politely step down from both the posts as he does not want the party's fight to weaken because of them.
What is the second story of resignation?
The 2022 assembly elections were fought with Harish Singh Rawat as the face. After the defeat in the elections, the Congress high command made Karan Mahara the state president. Tried to hand over command to the new generation by making Yashpal Arya the Leader of Opposition. Harish Singh Rawat's influence started weakening. His relations with the current president Ganesh Godiyal were also not good. Factionalism continued. He wanted that in the name of the new generation, the command of the party should be handed over to his son Virendra Rawat.
Harish Rawat also does not get along with election campaign committee chairman Pritam Singh. Harish Rawat kept expressing his displeasure from time to time. Now after the new controversy, he himself has resigned from the posts of permanent invitee member of the Congress Executive Committee and State Executive.
What is the ED angle?
According to ED, unaccounted cash worth Rs 32 lakh, about 200.5 grams of gold, 13 coins and 7 chains, 12 luxury watches like Rolex, Rado, Piaget, Movado, Tiso and Casio Edifice have been recovered from Jeena's house. The agency has also frozen Rs 52.16 lakh deposited in the bank accounts of Jeena and her family and has also seized their mobile phones for investigation.
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What is the whole matter?
On September 10, ED raided several locations in Dehradun under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002. This included the houses of the then Chairman and Secretary of UKSSSC, the then Controller of Examinations, the owner of a private computer agency processing OMR sheets and the houses of alleged middlemen. In the same sequence, Jeena's house was also searched.
According to the agency, this case is related to four separate FIRs of Uttarakhand Police and Vigilance Bureau, which were registered regarding irregularities in the Gram Panchayat Development Officer recruitment examination held in 2016. The ED alleges that the OMR answer sheets kept in safe custody were taken to the house of the then Secretary of the Commission, where the roll numbers of the less filled answer sheets were noted and given to the employees of a private computer agency. These employees took money and filled the answer sheet shells incorrectly and then they were sealed again.
Who is Chandan Singh Jeena?
Chandan Singh Jeena is currently working as the personal assistant of Harish Rawat. Earlier, when Rawat was the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2014 to 2017, Jeena had worked as his Special Officer on Special Duty (OSD).
What has Harish Rawat said?
In a lengthy post on He said that news is being shown on TV that huge amount of cash and jewelery has been found from his PA's house in Dehradun, but the truth will come out in the coming days.
Harish Rawat described Chandan Singh Jeena as a very decent, polite and hardworking person. He said that if Chandan Jeena has tampered in the OMR sheet in the Gram Sevak Recruitment Examination and there is proof of it, then she will be ashamed of it. He said that he does not believe this allegation at all.
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Resigned because of investigation into recruitment scam?
Rawat also gave clarification regarding UKSSSC and said that this commission was formed to secure the future of the youth of Uttarakhand. He claimed that during the three-year tenure of his government, more than 42,000 government posts were filled and pressure was put on the Public Service Commission to conduct the examinations on time.
He said that if he has committed any mistake in this process, he apologizes to the people of Uttarakhand. He defended the appointment of the then Chairman of the Commission, saying that this appointment was made on the basis of his previous service record and he had also taken action after receiving complaints. He also mentioned former Chief Minister Major General (retd) BC Khanduri, who had advised him on this appointment.
Harish Rawat said that if he committed any mistake knowingly or unknowingly in connection with the irregularities in recruitment and examinations, then he deserves punishment for it. He appealed to the people that if they have any evidence of Harish Rawat's involvement in the recruitment process then they can hand it over to CBI, ED or the state police.