No one asked me to resign, says former Uttarakhand CM Tirath Singh Rawat

Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat who resigned within four months has said that he took the decision to avoid a constitutional and legal crisis in the state after consulting the BJP central leadership and no one asked him to put in his papersIn an exclusive interview with IANS he also said that when he was appointed Chief Minister of the state some people started a conspiracy to malign his imageQ What would you say about your short tenure as chief minister of UttarakhandA No one asked me to resign After consulting the party central leadership I took the decision to resign from the office of chief minister to avoid a constitutional and legal crisis I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi Home Minister Amit Shah BJP president JP Nadda and all the central leadership for showing faith and trust in me for giving me an opportunity to lead Uttarakhand It all happened suddenly in the middle of the budget session when the party leadership asked me to take over as the chief minister of Uttarakhand But due to some constitutional provisions a crisis was in the making To avoid the constitutional and legal crisis I decided to resign after consulting the party leadership and they supported my decisionQ At the start of your tenure as Chief Minister lots of statements made headlines due to wrong reasons What would you say about those controversial commentsA All the statements which made headlines were taken out of context and it was done in a well planned strategy by some people as part of a conspiracy I come from an ideological background and spoke about what is good for Janta people Keshtra region and Pradesh state I did my mann ki baat but some people had created mann bhram confusion by showing edited and manipulated statementsQ You faced lots of criticism for being allowed to hold Kumbh which was termed as one of the main reasons for the second wave of Covid Now do you feel it was a wrong decisionA Kumbh was held once in 12 years On the second day as chief minister I took the decision to hold kumbh on a grand scale as it is a matter of peoples faith and sentiment Later on Prime Ministers appeal heads of akhada did not participate in the last shahi snan An atmosphere was created against the Kumbh to hurt peoples sentiment which was held following all the Covid protocol and SOP standard operating procedure laid down by the union government We even returned many people in absence of Covid negative report It was one of the best Kumbh ever organised People who were blaming Kumbh for the spread of the second wave can they tell if there was any Kumbh held in Kerala Maharashtra and Delhi from where Covid started Haridwar is never among the top three infected districts during Kumbh or peak of the second wave or even now in terms of daily case count An atmosphere and propaganda was created against the Kumbh by people who are against Hindus and Hindutva Why isnt anyone questioning Kerala which reports more than 50 per cent of total daily case count for allowing relaxation for bakrid festival despite the Supreme Court Blaming kumbh and saying nothing about Kerala model of appeasement during pandemic shows anti Hindu mindset of these peopleQ How do you see BJPs prospects in next years assembly pollsA Assembly polls will be held in five states Uttarakhand Uttar Pradesh Punjab Goa and Manipur in FebruaryMarch next year BJP will win all the state polls including Uttarakhand with twothird majority and the only reason is the vikas development model of Narendra Modi Since 2014 Prime Minister Modi has connected the common man with the development and Uttarakhand has reached a new height of development While taking the country to the new height of development Prime Minister Modi has also taken care of people during the pandemic by providing rations to 80 crore people under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana and Uttarakhand also provided suger under the scheme India under the leadership of Prime Minister became the only country to provide free vaccines to citizens and Uttarakhand is vaccinating elderly and divyang people at their doorstep In the last five years under the guidance of the Prime Minister Uttarakhand ensured regular electric supply to all the villages working on providing tap water roads networks from rural to national highways have been strengthened and increased Rail connectivity has increased in the state Once the people of Uttarakhand who used to demand for roads are now demanding for rail connectivity Based on the work I am saying that the BJP will win the assembly polls with two third majority in Uttarakhand and other statesQ Arvind Kejirwals Aam Aadmi Party AAP has announced to contest the Uttarakhand Assembly polls Do you see any challenge from AAPA In democracy everyone has the right to contest elections But I want to know what he Kejriwal will say about his governments achievements in Delhi His much hyped Delhi Model has failed and was exposed during the first wave of the Covid when Union Home Minister Amit Shah had to step in to control the situation Kejriwals world class Mohalla Clinics failed during the pandemic while the BJP government in Uttarakhand provided the health facility at door steps making Ghar Ghar Clinic While he is promising free electricity everywhere people in Delhi are getting inflated bills While AAP and Kejriwal misled the people BJP did what it said People of Uttarakhand are of different nature they are nationalist and are with Modi People are not misled by the false promises of KejriwalQ So you think the BJP is in direct fight with the CongressA We are not facing any challenges from any party people are with us The Congress leaders are fighting among themselves and losing ground in the state and across the country First they should put their house in order before taking on the BJP which has made place in the hearts of people