At a time of open disagreement among various Congress leaders in Uttarakhand on major issues, the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee is focusing on strengthening its organisational structure effectively down to the booth and bazaar levels. Political observers point out that while the party focuses on strengthening the grassroots, problematic possibilities are posed by the senior party leaders displaying signs of factionalism and difference of opinion within the party in Uttarakhand.
At a review meeting chaired by the PCC chief Kishore Upadhyay of the party’s Vidhan Sabha in-charge from the Garhwal division, the Congress state president stressed that it is essential to ensure strengthening of the party at the booth level. Strengthening the party organisation at the booth level is a priority of the party and the PCC committees to be formed will turn out to be milestones for the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections, 2018 Panchayat election and the 2019 lok Sabha elections. Upadhyay stated that training camps will be organised at the booth level for party workers, adding that the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will also be among the senior party leaders slated to attend the training camp.
The formation of booth committees in all the 70 Vidhan Sabha constituencies in the State will be completed within the period of one month. The PCC chief averred that the public has considerable expectations from the Congress because the party had drafted development schemes placing the common citizen at centre. At present, in addition to formation of the Congress committees at the booth, bazaar and village levels, the task of informing the common citizen about the developmental works of the State Government should also be executed effectively, said Upadhyay.
Political observers point out that some political measures have been taken in the recent part with an aim to tackle friction in the party. However, as the 2017 Vidhan Sabha election draws nearer, one cannot discount the probability of factionalism becoming more evident in the coming days, add the observers.