The uncomfortable relationship between the Congress party and its alliance partner Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) has once again come out in the open with Congress leaders strongly condemning recent statements made by PDF members regarding the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee head Kishore Upadhyay.
Objecting to what they viewed as intrusion in internal affairs of the political organisation by the alliance partner, local Congress leaders reiterated that the PDF was part of the Congress-led State Government but not of the Congress organisation.
The Pradesh Congress Committee secretary Girish Puneda stated, “It is the onus of the PCC chief to run the party organisation.”
The PCC chief is also responsible for ensuring that the Congress party workers are not ignored or harassed in areas not represented by Congress MlAs and he cannot turn his face away from his responsibility.
It is true that the manner in which the state government is run is the prerogative of the chief minister Harish Rawat but he should also remember that the government is led by the Congress and not by the PDF.
He should also remember that since he is a Congress chief minister he also has responsibility towards the party workers. While running the state government, he should also see to it that the party workers and organisation upon which the government is based, should also prosper,” he said.
Referring to cabinet minister Mantri Prasad Naithani as the “self proclaimed” head of PDF, Puneda opined that he should not forget that it was on the basis of the organisation that he was able to get a berth in the state cabinet. Puneda also requested the chief minister to improse some control over the statements being made by his cabinet colleagues.
He stated, “In addition to winning the Vidhan Sabha polls in 2012, the Congress also needs the vital role of its party cadre in order to secure a victory in the coming assembly election of 2017.”
It is pertinent to mention here that importance and berths being accorded to PDF MlAs in the Congress-led State Government has been a source of continued difference in the official stance taken by the Congress party organisation and the coalition state government headed by the Congress. For a couple of years now, the PCC chief Kishore Upadhyay has been expressing disappointment at the ‘importance’ being accorded to the PDF MlAs and also demanding that Congress MlAs be give place in the state cabinet in place of the PDF MlAs.
On the other hand, the chief minister Harish Rawat has so far maintained a diplomatic stand on the issue often recollecting the role of PDF members in forming the state government at a time when the Congress was in need of necessary numbers in the state assembly.