Dehradun

Disillusionment (?), Cong top leaders ploughing own furrows

PNS

Call it disillusionment from the party which has got considerably weakened by successive losses in different elections or giving precedence to personal interests over the party, top congress leaders of the State are seen to be charting their own course. Former Chief Minister Harish Rawat, former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Kishore Upadhyaya and Congress vice President Jot Singh Bisht are carrying forward their own agendas, albeit in the garb of pursuing social issues. While Rawat has decided to launch a campaign against drugs, Upadhyaya is busy in his drive for forest rights for the residents of the State. Jot Singh Bisht, on the other hand, has dedicated himself completely on the subject of Panchayati Raj. Interestingly, the Congress leaders, on the insistence of the party high command, make all positive noises about unity but when it comes to practice what they preach, these leaders refrain from sharing stage in public. The recent unsavoury incidence in Dehradun is an example of this open factionalism in the party when former Chief Minister Harish Rawat was not invited on the stage and was not called to address a protest organised by State Congress. An irked Harish Rawat left the programme in a huff.