The confrontation between two factions of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal is likely to escalate as the faction headed by expelled party patron Kashi Singh Airy has announced that it will hold a party convention on May 18-19 to elect a party chief to replace the present chief Trivendra Singh Panwar, who they allege is not the constitutional Chief.
On the other hand, the party central executive president, AP Juyal said that the party would be holding its convention on July 24-25 while adding that the convention called by the other faction was not a valid party gathering.
Juyal said that some people were spreading misinformation about the UKD and its chief TS Panwar. “It is being alleged that Panwar is continuing on the post using unconstitutional means whereas the fact is that the case between Panwar and expelled party leader Diwakar Bhatt was with the Election Commission of India for the past two years and after it ruled that the Panwar faction was the original party in December 2012, we submitted our plan to hold our convention in July 24-25 to the ECI and State Election Commission. There was no point in holding election for the post of the party chief while the case was with the ECI and this will now be held in July,” said Juyal.
He said that Airy was one of the senior most leaders of the party and also headed the party for many years in spite of which the party coffers remained empty due to which the supporters are wondering what he did while leading the UKD.
Those opposing Panwar have been funded by the Congress, alleged Juyal.The Airy faction has maintained that Panwar is heading the party unconstitutionally and a new party chief will be elected in the meet to be held later this month.