Attempts at unification of the various factions of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal suffered a major blow when former MlA Pushpesh Tripathi was made the UKD chief at a conference of the faction headed by Kashi Singh Airy on the weekend. leader of another faction, Trivendra Singh Panwar has stated that Tripathi’s election to the post of the party president is unconstitutional. It will be recalled that in a party general conference called in Dehradun by Airy, Tripathi was unanimously made the party chief. However, he has not been accepted as the party chief by Panwar.
Commenting on the development, Panwar said, “We had held several meetings to discuss plan for unification of the party’s various factions and had repeatedly contacted Airy and invited him to participate. Senior party leader Diwakar Bhatt has also involved himself in the unification efforts but Airy continues to work against unification efforts. Airy has proved that he is simply heading the B-team of the Congress. They want to remain in power with the Congress for their ulterior gains while we in the UKD want the party to be united to provide an alternative to the people who are disappointed with the two national parties- Congress and BJP,” he said.
Stating that Airy had been expelled from the UKD in the past, Panwar said that irrespective of such developments that hamper unification efforts, the party will still attempt to work towards unification of its factions. Airy on the other hand has said that Panwar is not serious about unification of the party factions. Observers point out that though Panwar and Bhatt are still talking of unification, the possibilites for success have weakened.
It will be recalled that once the only regional party of Uttarakhand, the UKD had played an important role in the Statehood movement. In the first Assembly elections in February 2002, the UKD had won four Assembly seats out of a total of 70 seats. The number decreased to three in the 2007 Assembly poll. later due to factionalism, the party could win only one seat in the 2012 Assembly poll. The lone UKD MlA and cabinet minister Pritam Singh Panwar who has extended support to the Congress-led Government as part of the alliance partner Progressive Democratic Front, has maintained his distance from the factionalism within UKD.