In a bid to break the deadlock between the State Government and MlAs, which has worsened since the cloudburst on June 16-17, State Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna is going to convene a meeting with Congress legislators in Dehradun on August 18.
Sources said that AICC general Secretary and Uttarakhand Congress in-charge Ambika Soni may preside over the meeting, but officially there is no such confirmation so far.
Sources said that since the cloudburst, several areas got affected and few areas are yet to be re-connected with road connectivity; so legislators are running aggrieved with the State Government. Four districts, namely Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts of Garhwal division and Pithoragarh district of Kumaon division, are badly affected. In these four districts, 10 out of 12 legislators belong to the Congress party, including Pritam Singh Panwar of UKD, who is one of the alliance parties in the Congress-led State Government. In Rudraprayag district, more than 60 per cent area has been damaged due to landslides, which happened after the cloudburst; two MlAs, including Shaila Rani Rawat representing Kedarnath and Cabinet Minister Dr Harak Singh Rawat, represent Rudraprayag constituency.
Similarly, in Pithoragarh district where three out of four Assembly constituencies, namely Harish Dhami (Dharchula), Mayuk Mahar (Pithoragarh) and Narayan Ram Arya (Gangolihaat), are being represented by the Congress MlAs. In Chamoli district, where the State Government has decided to construct the Vidhan Sabha building and laid foundation stone of Assembly building and MlA hostels, has also received major damage.
Kedarnath MlA Shala Rani Rawat has categorically alleged that her constituency people are very aggrieved with the State Government’s rescue and relief operations and still they are hoping that Government would come to wipe off their tears.Badrinath MlA Rajendra Singh Bhandari, who was Cabinet minister in the BJP-led State Government between 2007-12 and was already running aggrieved because he was denied Cabinet berth in the Vijay Bahuguna cabinet, has overtly criticised the State Government when the CM had visited the disaster affected areas.
In these circumstances, Congress MlAs are annoyed with the Congress-led State Government. Taking cognisance of it, Chief Minister Bahuguna has decided to have meeting with Congress and alliance parties MlAs, including independent MlA Dinesh Dhanai in the Chief Minister’s residence on August 18. The Congress-led State Government gets support of 40 MlAs, including three BSP, one UKD and three independents. Besides it, the State Government has support of one nominated MlA as well.
Talking to The Pioneer, MlA Mahar said that he has not received any communiqué from the Chief Minister’s side, but he came to know through media only. Although he made it clear that no damage took place due to disaster in his Assembly constituency. Sources also said that State PCC president Yashpal Arya, who is also Disaster Management Minister, is been annoyed because another Cabinet Minister Dr Harak Singh Rawat is being seen in most of the meetings to rebuild the disaster affected areas of the State. For instance, recently when chief minister was having meeting with World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) officials, who have jointly agreed to provide $400 million to Uttarakhand, Disaster Minister Arya was absent and Agriculture Minister Harak Singh Rawat was sitting along with the Chief Minister in the meeting.