Uttaranchal elect under Sonia's leadership: Rawat

Hardwar, Nov 20: Uttaranchal Congress chief Harish Rawat has reiterated that the party would fight upcoming assembly election in the state under the leadership of party president Sonia Gandhi even as AICC treasurer Motilal Vora maintained that it will be under Chief Minister Narain Dutt Tiwari's stewardship.

Mr Rawat's remarks come hard on the heels of Mr Vora's statement here a day earlier that elections in the state would be fought under the leadership of Mr Tiwari.

Mr Rawat was talking to reporters here last evening after addressing a meeting of Congress workers here to celebrate the 89th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

He said Ms Sonia Gandhi had always been the leader of the Congressmen in the state and the coming elections would be fought under her guidance. ''The issue of chief ministership, if the party is voted to power, will be decided by the legislators after the elections,'' he said.

Lauding the achievements of the state government, Mr Rawat said, ''We had fulfilled most of the promises made in the election manifesto of the last assembly polls.'' ''This time our performance in the state assembly elections will be better than that of the last time,'' he said.

Replying to a question, he said the PCC executive would be constituted after the elections to avoid unnecessary controversies and to adjust senior leaders who could not be given party tickets for the assembly elections.

Mr Rawat further said only persons loyal to the party and who had a clean image and winning prospects would be given tickets so that the work done by the state government could be translated into votes.

''Since Uttaranchal is a women-dominated state and they played a key role in its creation, this time more representation will be given to women candidates,'' he added.

UNI