Harish Rawat denies having slapped anyone

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today denied having slapped a Congress worker saying he could not slap anyone even in a dream. "The young man who is said to have been slapped by me is my 27-year-old relative Dinesh who was shouting slogans at the peak of his voice in my support when the CLP meeting was on at Bijapur Guest House yeserday.

"The slap was actually an elderly pat on his cheek asking him to keep quiet when a party meeting was underway," Rawat said when asked whether he would apologise for what he had done.

He said the man in question is his nephew who hails from his village. There were reports about Rawat slapping a party worker when a CLP meeting was underway at the guest house yesterday to decide the successor of Vijay Bahuguna.