Chief Minister Harish Rawat has replied to 70 per cent of the letters of Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay by Saturday but the PCC chief appears to be dissatisfied. He said that he had appointed two observers in each Assembly constituency. They have been assigned the task of assessing the State Government’s performance on ground and also assess the potential candidate of the Congress for the upcoming Assembly election. Political analysts said that the distance between the State and Congress party may widen in coming days.
As is known, Upadhyay had publicly stated that he can understand the situation of common public because as the chief of PCC he has forwarded thousands of letters but not a single reply was received from CM Harish Rawat or Chief Minister office (CMO). Ironically when Rawat was Union Cabinet Minister then he used to send letter to the State CM with a copy also being leaked to the media. With this then incumbent CM had to face tough time answer ing media queries. Similar tactics were applied by the PCC chief and CM Rawat had to face embarrassment. Even when Uttarkahnd Congress incharge Ambika Soni had come to Dehradun on July 7 then she had to skirt media questions related to strong divide between State Government and State Congress. Although Soni had categorically instructed both State Government and state Congress to avoid getting such embarrassment in future because State is going to face Assembly election next year.
Although CM Rawat had categorically defended that his office gives response to each and every letter. Being a seasoned politician, he reached to the Congress head office and did not hesitate in participating in city congress meeting. In which CM Rawat said that he has managed to answer 70 percent of the congress president demand and remaining letters’ reply would be given by his office shortly. By saying this Rawat had tried his stand clear but Upadhyay, who has been running upset since elevation of Tehri MlA Dinesh Dhanai as State Cabinet Minister and later his candidature was denied during Rajya Sabha election, did not stop here and said now he has been going on Kumaon tour so he would take feedback from people.
Although Upadhyay said that he could not have send it through proper channel instead of coming along with reply. listening to it, CM Rawat could not control his anger and asked that you should send letter through proper channel instead of submitting it to me. Although he further said that collecting details on these letters was not an easy task but we did it. Political analyst said that state pCC president Upadhyay is running annoyed because CM did not fulfill his promises, which were allegedly made with Upadhyay. As CM
Rawat has said that PDF, which is an alliance of six MlAs other than congress and BJP and alliance partner of congress led Uttarakhand government, would contest upcoming Assembly election on congress ticket. If this happens then Upadhyay, who had represented Tehri constituency between 2002-12, will have to look for other constituency. It is also known fact that during selection of candidate for upcoming Assembly elections.