Harish Rawat says he would ‘like to step down from Congress posts’ amid corruption allegations against aide

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Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat said the Congress party and its workers were united in their fight against corruption. File. | Photo Credit: SUDERSHAN V

Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat on Saturday (September 12, 2026) said he would ‘like to step down’ from two party posts, saying allegations against an aide should not weaken the Congress’s fight against corruption.

His statement came after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided Chandan Singh Jeena, who served as an officer on special duty (OSD) during Mr. Rawat’s tenure as Chief Minister.

In a social media post, Mr. Rawat said he wanted to resign as an executive member of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee and as a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee.

“....I have taken a major decision....I am a member of the executive of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee and a permanent invitee member of the Congress Working Committee at the national level, and with utmost humility, I wish to step down from both these positions, because no weakness should come into the party’s struggle on my account.”

Mr. Rawat linked the ED action to what he described as an attempt to build a narrative against him. He said he had often joked that elections in Uttarakhand would begin when the CBI came “knocking at my door”.

This time, he alleged, an attempt had been made to “knock at the house of one of my associates and craft a narrative”.

Mr. Rawat described Mr. Jeena as a “noble, humble and hardworking individual”, but said that if there was evidence of his involvement in tampering with OMR sheets in the recruitment of gram sevaks, he would be “ashamed” of the act.

The allegations relate to irregularities in recruitment examinations, including those conducted by the Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UKSSSC) during Mr. Rawat’s tenure.

Defending his government’s record, Mr. Rawat said it had created recruitment boards and strengthened the recruitment process. He claimed that more than 42,000 government recruitments were made during his three-year tenure.

He also said anyone with evidence of his involvement in recruitment irregularities should approach the CBI, ED or State police.

“If there has been any lapse on my part, I consider myself deserving of punishment, and the law should punish me,” he said, while seeking forgiveness from the people of Uttarakhand if any decision taken during his tenure had harmed the future of the State’s youth.

Reacting to the ED raids, Uttarakhand Congress president Ganesh Godiyal said the “so-called examination” dates back to 2016 and questioned why the Centre took 11 years to act.