Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Tuesday said that his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home minister Amit Shah was a courtesy call.
"It was merely a courtesy call. I had not met them since resigning from my position of Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. Though we also spoke on the politics in the Uttarakhand state too, as to what we have to do, what lies ahead of us," said Rawat.
Earlier today, the former Uttarakhand CM had visited both ministers, leading to speculations of a much bigger responsibility for him within the party.
Rawat also said he talked to both ministers on Kedarnath construction.
"PM Modi is very much interested in Kedarnath construction. We talked about the progress made in that regard," added Rawat.
"This pilgrimage was stopped by the court, not the government. When I was the CM, we had opened the Yatra in a phase-wise manner. First for the local people from Covid free area and then for others. Both the religious sentiments and Covid guidelines were taken care of in this arrangement. Even now I feel that vaccinated people should be allowed to go ahead with the pilgrimage. We will request the court for the same. Also, whichever districts have been Covid free, people there should be allowed too," he said.
On July 28, the Char Dham Yatra was banned by the Nainital High Court due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pilgrimage includes a visit to Kedarnath temple as well.
Regarding Aam Aadmi Party's political entry into Uttarakhand, Rawat said: "All they do is deceit and talk. The common man has realised this. Uttarakhand has always been one with nationalistic thoughts and ideas. The public in the state never accepted politicians with regional aspirations and thoughts. AAP won't make much impact here. They don't have any leadership or organisation in Uttarakhand."
The former CM stated that electricity bills in Uttarakhand were already cheap and it was not in the nature of people there to chase freebies.
"Electricity in Uttarakhand is cheap while its too expensive in Delhi. Also, its not in the nature of the people of our state to consume anything for free," added Rawat.
Earlier on July 11, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced 300 units of free electricity for Uttarakhand if voted to power.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor