Rawat begins tour to assess people's mood ahead of polls next

With assembly elections just a year away, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today began a tour of the state to gauge the mood of people and get feedback for his government's performance.
He is being accompanied on the tour by Pradesh Congress President Kishore Upadhyaya, Rawat's media incharge Surendra Kumar said.
In the first phase of the tour, Rawat is likelyto visit Khatima and Banbasaareas and interact with people to know about their problems and their expectations from the state government, he said.
Insisting that the tour has nothing to do with assembly elections due next year, Kumar said,"The tour is meant to establish direct contact with people, something the Chief Minister is fond of doing."

However, the tour is generally seen as a pre-poll exercise by Rawat to assess the people's mood and publicise achievements of the state government.
The Chief Minister is likely to return to Dehradun tomorrow and resume the phased tour after a couple of days during which he will visit other parts of the state, Kumar said.