The Congress party set to hold a massive protest under the leadership of State Congress chief Pritam Singh at the Gandhi Park on October 25 against the alleged intimidation and prosecution of Congress workers by the ruling BJP Government in the State.
On Sunday, the Mahanagar Congress held a meeting at the Congress Bhawan. Addressing party members at the meet, the Congress Mahanagar head Prithviraj Chauhan accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led State Government of harassing the party workers in the State.
He charged that the elected public representatives from the Congress were being persecuted and threatened and announced that the party would be staging its protest demonstration in Dehradun on this issue. Many senior Congress leaders were also expected to be present on the occasion. Chauhan appealed the party workers to participate in the protest demonstration in large numbers.
It may be mentioned here that earlier on October 17, a Congress delegation led by Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Pritam Singh had called on Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat complaining about alleged persecution of Congress members in the State. They had submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister warning that they would start protest demonstration from October 25 if the Government failed to take any corrective measures by then.
The Congress delegation had pointed out the example of Dharchula MlA Harish Dhami, who had been protesting against police harassment. Former Chief Minister Harish Rawat had also sat in protest with him. However, no action has been taken in this case so far.
In another case, the residence of the district Mahila Congress head Nanda Bisht was searched by the police without a search warrant, the keys were snatched from her to take away a vehicle and she was misbehaved with.
The PCC had also cited another example that the licence of a bar owned by the husband of the Ranikhet block Pramukh was also cancelled in an unfair manner. While glaring anomalies in various bars across the State elicited little more than monetary penalties, the licence of the bar run by the block Pramukh’s husband was cancelled.
The Congress delegation had also questioned the behaviour of State Minister for Higher Education Dhan Singh Rawat, accusing him of pressurising a college principal to take questionable action during students’ union election.
When the PCC delegation met the CM, they had reportedly received assurance of positive response to their issues. However, the authorities did not seem to have done any homework yet as is evident from the preparation being made by the Congress for its protest on October 25.