The Delhi visit of the State Congress chief Pritam Singh has stoked speculation that the much-awaited Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) would soon be announced.
Singh was in Delhi on Friday and Saturday where he along with the leader of the Opposition in Uttarakhand Assembly, Indira Hridayesh met the State in-charge of the party Anugrah Narayan Singh and held elaborate discussions on the shape of the new PCC and its probable members. The state president also tried to meet the Congress president Rahul Gandhi to get his nod for his team but the meeting could not have taken place.
Talking to The Pioneer over phone, Singh confirmed that new PCC was on his agenda of the Delhi visit. He added that he would soon meet the Congress president after which the names of the PCC would be declared.
It is learnt that the State party in-charge Anugrah Narayan Singh held detailed discussions with the former Chief Minister and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Harish Rawat and former PCC president Kishore Upadhyaya on the faces of the new PCC. Meanwhile, the former PCC president Kishore Upadhyaya said in Dehradun on Saturday that he has suggested such names for inclusion in the PCC who had shown faith in the party when it was on the verge of split.
He further said that the party should reward those who stood by it in its hard times.
The PCC president Singh in the past had repeatedly said that the new PCC would be a small one unlike the jumbo PCC when Kishore Upadhyaya was stewarding the party in the State.
However, the party insiders said that it is unlikely be to small one, given the factional pulls and counter pulls gnawing at the state party unit. “It is unlikely that the new committee would have less than 50 members,” a party insider said.
The State watchers also agreed to the view and said that given the internal dynamics of the party, different leaders are bound to push hard to ensure that their supporters figure in the apex committee of the State Congress. “The new PCC would at least have 75 members,” said a political commentator.
With Lok Sabha elections round the corner, the state Congress is showing impatience to put into place the new PCC before going into the poll mode. In the past, the PCC declaration on the matter was postponed on one pretext or another, keeping the constitution of the committee in abeyance.