With an intention to attract the young voters, the Harish Rawat-led Uttarakhand Government is holding a two-day long 'The Great Khali Returns' series in Haldwani and Dehradun on February 24 and 28, respectively.
On February 24 when people were eager to see the first show of the series then members of the NSUI, which is a youth wing of the Congress, shouted slogans against the Congress Government alleging that the local MlA and State Finance Minister Indira Hridayesh was being overlooked by the event organisers. They also raised slogans against the Chief Minister's industrial advisor Ranjit Rawat.
Party workers seem disappointed with this incident taking place at a time when the Congress is talking about attracting youth voters for support in the Assembly election of 2017. As the supporters of Hridayesh were shouting slogans against the State Government Uttarakhand PCC president Kishore Upadhyay paid a visit to Hridayesh's house but he himself had to face protest with the NSUI workers raising slogans against him too.
Seeing the inimical situation, Upadhyay decided to leave the venue with immediate effect. The incident may have been caused by varied reasons but it has made many question whether all is well in the Harish Rawat-led Government, considering the glaring display of internal strife in the Congress at a prominent event aimed at attracting attention of people at the national and international levels.
It would be pertinent to mention here that CM4Youth, Harish Rawat's youth outreach initiative, is organising the 'mega' event in Uttarakhand. Cong rift shows up at Great Khali mega event
'The Great Khali Returns' series chairman Ranjit Rawat has been putting in efforts to make this event successful but this incident has made a severe dent on the image of the State Government.
The State Government deployed considerable police force including seven COs, 75 senior sub-inspectors (SSI) and 500 constables and six companies of PAC to maintain law and order during and after the event.
Congress leaders and workers, who are keen to get closer to the Chief Minister in the hope of being appointed to some chairman or deputy chairman post were also among those who had reached the venue.