Evidently unaffected by Chief Minister Harish Rawat’s appeal for unity and patience among Congress party cadres, the supporters of Congress ticket aspirant from Sahaspur, Aryendra Sharma, continued their protest at the Congress Bhawan on the second day on Monday. Dramatic violence with tearing of banners, sloganeering against the Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay, among others, and an attempted self -immolation bid by a supporter which failed with the person being apprehended by the police - dominated the scene at Congress Bhawan. At the same time, a group of Upadhyay supporters who have been camping at Congress Bhawan for a couple of days now, continued their demonstration demanding that the PCC chief contest the Assembly election from Tehri constituency. There was an altercation between rival supporters which was prevented from escalating by the police present at the site.
The candid and sincere-sounding appeal made by chief minister Harish Rawat via individual phone calls through interactive voice response system (IVRS) on Sunday night and Monday appeared to have had no effect on the supporters of Aryendra Sharma who continued to protest against the party leadership for not fielding him from Sahaspur where PCC president Kishore Upadhyay has been fielded as Congress candidate.
Already having shreaded and broken the posters, hoardings and banners of party leaders including Congress national vice president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday, the few remnants of party displays were taken down by supporters of Sharma on Monday. One of them even doused himself with an inflammable liquid in an apparent attempt at self immolation which was thwarted by the police who took the person away from the site.
There was also an altercation between the supporters of Sharma and those in support of the PCC chief though the situation did not escalate to a serious level with the police resorting to mild force to disperse the crowd. Meanwhile, taking cognisance of the activities, district Congress committee head Yamin Ansari suspended eight office bearers of the party for six years from the party for protesting against the candidate declared by the All India Congress Committee and for causing damage to the Congress Bhawan. These include the Congress district deputy head Mohammed Talim, district secretary lakshmi Sharma, district organisation secretary Anil Gharati, district executive member Beena, Sahaspur block head Sanjay Kumar, Selaqui Nagar Panchayat head Ashok Negi and Selaqui Nagar Panchayat general secretaries Harish Bisht and Mehroona. Political observers doubt whether the suspensions will have much effect on the protest against officials candidates on Sahaspur and a few other constituencies.