Senior Congress leader and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Saturday clarified that he has not resigned from the Congress party, after reports emerged suggesting that he had stepped down following Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids linked to his personal assistant.
Rawat said he had only offered to resign from two organisational positions if the ED action against his aide, Chandan Singh Jeena, weakened the Congress party’s stand against corruption. He remains a member of the Congress, stressing that the party is an integral part of his identity.
The controversy began after the ED conducted searches at premises linked to Jeena in Dehradun. According to reports, the agency seized around a dozen luxury wristwatches and ₹32 lakh in cash during the searches.
Jeena is currently Rawat’s personal assistant and had earlier served as an Officer on Special Duty when Rawat was Uttarakhand chief minister between 2014 and 2017.
The ED searches were part of a money-laundering investigation connected to alleged irregularities in a 2016 recruitment examination conducted by the Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UKSSSC). The agency searched premises linked to several people associated with the examination process, including former officials and individuals allegedly connected to the suspected conspiracy.
Rawat has rejected the allegations against Jeena, describing him as a hardworking and decent person. At the same time, he said that if evidence established that Jeena had tampered with OMR sheets or committed irregularities during the recruitment process, it would be a matter of shame.
Rawat had earlier indicated that he wanted to step down from his positions as a member of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee executive and as a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee. His stated reason was that his association with the case should not create any weakness in the party’s campaign against corruption.
However, his comments were interpreted by some sections of the media as a resignation from the Congress itself.
Clarifying the matter, Rawat said Congress membership remained firmly with him and urged media organisations to read his original statement in full before reporting on it.
He also criticised the ED action in Dehradun, calling it a “hypocritical spectacle”, while maintaining that he did not want the controversy surrounding his aide to affect the Congress party’s political position.
The episode has created fresh political attention in Uttarakhand, with the ED investigation and Rawat’s remarks likely to remain a major issue in the state’s political discourse.
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