The reports regarding removal of ministers from Congress' alliance partner PDF's quota in the State Cabinet are gaining strength here. Under these circumstances, Tehri MlA and Tourism minister Dinesh Dhanai is naturally becoming apprehensive.
An example of this was seen during the Tehri lake Adventure Tourism festival here with Dhanai putting up a show of strength during the programme in front of the chief minister Harish Rawat. Supporters of Dhanai raised slogans reiterating their support to him.
According to sources, the CM wants to continue with the present situation, while PCC chief Kishore Upadhyaya wants a decrease in PDF influence, though he does not say it openly. It may be noted that in the 2012 Assembly polls, Dhanai had defeated Upadhyaya in Tehri by a slight margin, Pritam Singh Panwar had defeated Congress leader Kedar Singh Rawat in Yamunotri, while Mantri Prasad Naithani had defeated Congress' SS Sajwan in Devprayag. Naithani, Panwar and Dhanai later formed the PDF and bagged ministries.