Even Rome was not built in a day: CM
Chief minister Harish Rawat sought time to fulfil the emotive demand for Garsain as Uttarakhand’s permanent capital, asserting that he was moving “step by step” to execute the roadmap for development of the hill town.
“I foresee our party returning to power with a good number of seats. So, my first priority, in that case, will be to resume execution of our road-map for development in Gairsain,” he said on Saturday, suggesting that the centrally located area would be developed as the permanent capital of Uttarakhand.
Rawat told HT that Congress would win Karnaprayag “hands down” suggesting that its residents, like the people elsewhere in Uttarakhand, support him on developing Gairsain as a permanent capital. Gairsain falls in Karnaprayag where the election is due on March 9.
“That party has itself to blame for leaving the issue unresolved,” he said, when asked about BJP’s repeated allegation that he was playing politics on the matter. “They could have announced a permanent capital when they formed the first interim government in 2000 but they didn’t,” Rawat said.
He alleged that BJP left the issue unresolved even after remaining in power for five years. “I started working on the permanent capital issue after I took over a little over three years ago,” Rawat said, referring to Vidhan Sabha Bhawan that was set up at Gairsain during his tenure in the CMO.
He claimed that his government had formulated the roadmap for development in Gairsain long ago. “It is now under execution…I am moving ahead step by step. Even Rome was not built in a day,” he said, adding that first thing he would do after his party “comes to power is” to hold a budget session in Vidhan Sabha Bhawan at Gairsain.
Rawat rubbished BJP’s allegation that he had been playing politics over the matter with an eye on the poll. “I am not going to answer any of their allegations,” he said, adding that the accusations of the opposition party are ”rubbish”. He played down BJP state president Ajay Bhatt’s allegation that the ruling Congress did not even promise in its poll manifesto that it would set up a permanent capital at Gairsain. “Why should we when we are already executing our roadmap for development?”