Rejecting allegations made by the BJP, the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay said that the BJP should remember that when it was in power the assembly constituencies of Congress MlAs had been neglected.
He stressed that the BJP is making false allegations as the Congress-led State Government is not ignoring the constituencies represented by BJP MlAs. Upadhyay was addressing the media here on Sunday.
Refuting reports on factionalism in the Congress' State unit, the UPCC chief stressed that all the Congress leaders in Uttarakhand are united and would participate in the 2017 assembly elections under leadership of party president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi.
Without facing factionalism, the Congress will achieve a convincing victory in the 2017 assembly polls under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, he added.
Upadhyay said that prominent party leaders in Uttarakhand including the chief minister Harish Rawat, former CM Vijay Bahuguna and cabinet ministers Indira Hridayesh, Yashpal Arya and Harak Singh Rawat are also jointly responsible for ensuring a big victory for the party in the 2017 assembly polls.
Referring to BJP MlA from Gadarpur, Arvind Pandey, who is currently in jail in a criminal case, Upadhyay said that Pandey resorted to the style of politics common in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. Alleging that Pandey was in the habit of making use of muscle power is unacceptable in Uttarakhand. The UPCC chief urged the BJP leadership to put a check on such MlAs.
Regarding the BJP focusing on Jai Prakash Narayan, Upadhyay said that this was theatric. He said that JP fought against communalism throughout his life and despite his ideological differences, had maintained his personal relations with the Nehru family till the end. The UPCC chief said that JP had warned his associates about the Jana Sangh.
He said that Jai Prakash Narayan had toured Uttarakhand extensively during the sixties and had set the pace of the Bhoodan movement. At one time he had also thought of spending his last moments in Uttarkashi. Upadhyay said that if the BJP really wants to honour his memory, it should boost his Gram Swaraj movement in Uttarakhand.