News Analysis India

Tag: Uttarakhand Congress

  • Uttarakhand elections 2022: BJP fields ex-state Congress president Kishore Upadhyay from Tehri

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The BJP on Friday named Kishore Upadhyay, a former state Congress president who joined it on Thursday, as its candidate from Tehri assembly seat in Uttarakhand. The party also fielded Brij Bhushan Gairola from Doiwala, from where former Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat is the sitting MLA but has expressed his unwillingness to contest the poll this time.

    ALSO READ| Uttarakhand polls: Congress fields former BJP leader Dhan Singh Negi from Tehri

    With the announcement, the BJP has now named all its candidates for the February 14 elections to the 70-member assembly. The BJP is in power in the state.

    Unhappy with shrinking space for him in the Congress, Upadhyay had joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister and the party’s election in-charge for Uttarakhand Pralhad Joshi and Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt.

  • Have same concern like Harish Rawat, but hopeful of solution: Uttarakhand Congress chief Ganesh Godiyal

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Ahead of a meeting of Uttarakhand Congress leaders with former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Uttarakhand Congress president Ganesh Godiyal on Thursday said he shares feelings of party’s campaign chief Harish Rawat but hoped things will be sorted out in a day or two in consultation with the party high command.

    This comes as the state Congress leaders will meet top leadership in Delhi to iron out differences ahead of elections in the state.

    Commenting on Rawat’s tweet where he cited non-cooperation from high command and that he feels like quitting, Godiyal said: “I also feel this and not today but for quite some time. But my style is to give the person in question enough time to correct himself.”

    He further said that the organisation is aware of the brewing trouble in the state unit and the process to address it has also been underway.

    “If they were addressed earlier there would not have been a tweet like this. We will meet party general secretary KC Venugopal and also Rahul Gandhi if necessary and put things before them. I hope a solution will be found,” he said.

    Rawat had Wednesday tweeted that, “Isn’t it strange that the organizational structure at most places, instead of extending a helping hand, is standing with its head turned away or playing a negative role at a time when I have to swim across the ocean of elections”.

    Sources said that Rawat has differences with party state incharge Devender Yadav over several issues, including that the party should project him as the face for chief minister while Rahul Gandhi does not want that and that the election should be conducted under collective leadership.   

    Yadav has been saying the party will go to polls under a collective leadership as has been the party’s tradition whereas Rawat has been in favour of Congress declaring its chief minister face ahead of polls. 

    Asked about Rawat’s differences with Yadav, the PCC chief said taking everyone along is the responsibility of the party in charge.

  • Unease in Uttarakhand BJP due to latest defections

    Express News Service

    DEHRADUN: Coming ahead of Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit, the exits of Yashpal and Sanjeev Arya have caused a stir among the BJP rank and file in Uttarakhand. Sources in the BJP said that state leaders were summoned by the central leadership to explain the defections.

    “The meeting will take place either in Uttarakhand or Delhi. This (exits) will also be discussed in the home minister’s meeting. Though there was a talk of Arya and his son rejoining the Congress, it has raised a question on the functioning of the party as well as the government,” said a party insider. 

    Yashpal Arya had joined the BJP in January 2017, just before the Assembly elections. Before him, nine rebel MLAs left the Congress for the BJP in 2016. Now, the exits have sparked rumours of others, including Harak Singh Rawat and Satpal Maharaj, taking the same route. The opposition Congress has already formed a panel to oversee ‘ghar wapsi’ of those leaders and workers who were either expelled or voluntarily left the party in last five-six years. 

    In November last year, Cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat had sparked speculations of rejoining the Congress when he commented that there were no permanent friends and adversaries in politics. Political experts asserted  that both parties are betting on every seat in the 70-member Assembly as every seat matters. Meanwhile, voices of dissent within the Congress have started emerging. Sarita Arya, women’s wing of the party, said if Sanjeev Arya gets ticket from Nainital, she would be forced to think of leaving the party.

  • Pritam Singh takes charge as Leader of Opposition in Uttarakhand Assembly

    By PTI
    DEHRADUN: Former Uttarakhand Congress president Pritam Singh on Monday took charge as the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly. He succeeds Indira Hridayesh who died last month. Soon after taking charge, Singh said Congress is all set to return to power in 2022.

    “People are disappointed with the so called double engine government. They are looking for change. They gave BJP a powerful mandate in 2017. Still the party failed to give them a stable government. Three chief ministers in four-and-a-half years of whom one had to step down in just four months. The two Rawats (Trivendra and Tirath) have ruined the state,” Singh who represents Chakrata seat in the State Assembly told reporters.

    Development has been the biggest casualty of this political instability, he said adding that the economy lies in shambles and the prices have soared like never before. Accusing the state government of playing into the hands of the land and mining mafia, he said Congress alone can provide a transparent and corruption-free government to the people of the state.

    When asked who will be the party’s chief ministerial face in the 2022 assembly polls, Singh said there is no dearth of capable people in the party and whoever is selected for the job by the party high command after the polls will have the support and backing of everyone.

    Singh was replaced recently as Uttarakhand PCC president by Ganesh Godiyal and appointed as Leader of Opposition in the State assembly in a major organisational rejig ahead of next year’s assembly polls.

  • Congress should break tradition, project chief ministerial candidate to counter BJP: Harish Rawat

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Congress general secretary and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat has opened a new debate for the party that the Congress should declare the chief ministerial candidate in the assembly elections as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fight elections in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi neutralising the anti-incumbency factor.

    “BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have made PM Modi the face of Hindutva. The BJP has been fighting the elections under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Municipality level to MLA and the party does not announce the chief ministerial candidate before the polls, thereby affecting voters and people forgetting local issues,” he said.

    Reiterating the fact that the elections should be fought by projecting a chief ministerial face, he said, “This practice of contesting elections with collective leadership without a face has to be changed, there was a time when Congress had so many chief ministers and party used to go with their leadership and where there was no leadership of chief minister, the party used to go with collective leadership now the traditional practice has to be changed as the time and scenario has been also changed.”

    Rawat said that to counter BJP, Congress should declare a face at the local level so that the elections are held on local issues and the Congress can get the upper hand.

    He said that he wants this issue should be discussed in the party meetings therefore he is publicly giving his opinion.

    On being asked whether the party will listen to his views he said “I am just giving suggestions it’s not compulsory to adopt it, but it has been seen in recent elections in Haryana as well where the party projected the face that party has performed better”.

    He also gave an example of Bihar and said UPA (United Progressive Alliance) projected Tejashwi Yadav and we were almost through in the contest.

    Rawat, who had raised this a few months ago and said, “My demand for declaring a face for the polls must not be seen as a personal aspiration,” adding that he will stand behind whosoever will be made a chief ministerial candidate in the state.

  • Uttarakhand: Congress stages walkout from assembly over sugarcane farmers’ problems

    By PTI
    GAIRSAIN: The Congress on Friday staged a walkout from the Uttarakhand Assembly over problems being faced by sugarcane growers in the state due to the non-announcement of the minimum support price (MSP) for the cash crop.

    Congress MLA Qazi Nizamuddin became emotional while raising the issue in the assembly during the Zero Hour.

    “Sugarcane growers have contributed immensely to the development of the state and their problems should be solved on priority,” Nizamuddin said in a voice choked with emotion.

    Sharing his concern, Leader of Opposition Indira Hridayesh said during ND Tiwari’s tenure, the MSP for sugarcane used to be announced even before its crop was ready in the fields.”What is the problem in announcing the MSP for sugarcane?” she asked.

    “Qazi Nizamuddin’s concern is genuine. People of his constituency have expectations from him,” she said.

    The government needs to be more sensitive to the problem of farmers, she said.

    In his reply on behalf of the government, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Kaushik said Uttarakhand is not just among five states where sugarcane MSP is announced every year but it also pays the highest MSP for sugarcane.

    However, not satisfied with the minister’s reply, the Congress members staged a walkout from the assembly.

  • Mahakumbh: Congress terms Uttarakhand CM’s ‘Wuhan or a Markaz’ remark irresponsible

    Express News Service
    DEHRADUN: After Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said that no risk which could possibly turn Haridwar Mahakumbh into ‘Wuhan or a Markaz’ should be taken, opposition Indian National Congress has slammed him terming the remark irresponsible. The opposition party claimed it to be an attempt to deflect attention from unpreparedness for Mahakumbh 2021. 

    Suryakant Dhasmana, vice-president of Uttarakhand Congress unit said, “The CM said Markaz targeting Tablighi jamaat while it has nothing to do with Mahakumbh. The pandemic was not spread by any one community. Picking a particular name and religion is not right in any sense. This statement seems more to cover up the failure to prepare for the grand religious congregation.”

    The INC leader also added that the statement by the CM is highly irresponsible. 

    ALSO READ | Planning to attend Mahakumbh? Uttarakhand govt releases SOP, here is everything pilgrims should know

    Earlier, on Wednesday, the CM while leaving for his Almora tour from Dehradun had said that no risk should be taken that turns the Haridwar Mahakumbh into a ‘Wuhan or Markaz’.  He had also added that the strict SOPs are to keep devotees and pilgrims safe and to prevent loss of lives.

    Over 1600 people have died in Uttarakhand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

    Saints, business groups and other stakeholders have raised their concerns that such strict norms are bound to discourage pilgrims and devotees to travel Haridwar for Mahakumbh 2021. 

    According to the SOP, pilgrims must have a Covid-19 RT-PCR negative test report (test done 72 hours prior to the date of visit) and must register themselves with the state government before visiting the religious congregation starting on February 27. 

    The SOPs also advocate ‘appropriate Covid-19 behaviour’ like social distancing, wearing of masks, and installing Aarogya Setu App mandatorily.

  • Uttarakhand Congress a divided house over CM face

    By Express News Service
    DEHRADUN: Factionalism in the Congress unit in Uttarakhand has reared its head again, with the rival camps of former chief minister Harish Rawat and Leader of Opposition Indira Hridayesh vying for the lead role in the state election.

    Uttarakhand goes to poll in 2022. Of the total 70 Assembly seats, the ruling BJP has 56 seats while the Congress has got 11. Lobbying has started in the Congress, with Rawat recently demanding that the party should announce its CM face. Rawat found support from former Assembly speaker Gobind Singh Kunjwal. The Congress veteran even tweeted Devendra Yadav, Uttarakhand in charge of the party, requesting him to announce the CM candidate.

    But, the Indira Hridayesh camp assert their leader managed to hold her constituency Haldwani in 2017 despite a strong Modi wave which felled Harish Rawat in Haridwar-Rural and Kichcha. “Indiraji was able to maintain her stronghold even at the peak of the Modi wave which swept Uttar Pradesh with over 300 seats and with more than 50 seats out of 70-member Assembly in Uttarakhand. She must be the party face as she has an image of strong leader and has ample experience,” said one of her aides. 

    While PCC vice-president Suryakant Dhasmana maintained that the party will contest as a single unit, his senior Pritam Singh chose not to comment on the matter. ex-CM is unlikely to keep a low profile, as Dehradun-based political commentator Jay Singh Rawat observed, given that he has managed to etch out a space in the national politics despite his setback in 2017. “The party high command has made him a general secretary of the party and given key responsibilities such as Punjab,” he said.