With the fissures within State Congress having surfaced over the emotive capital shift issue, the Harish Rawat camp has backed down from its previous fasting stir programme at Gairsain on the opening day of the Budget session evidently under pressure from the leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Indira Hridayesh.
The former Speaker and Jogeshwar MlA Govind Singh Kunjwal, who is said to be a staunch camp follower of Harish Rawat said on Wednesday that they would lend full political support to the outfits which would demonstrate while demanding declaration of Gairsain as the permanent capital of the State during the session.
Besides, they would raise the issue from inside the Assembly, he said. A few days ago, he had said that they would themselves stage a stir outside the Assembly on the opening day of the session on the capital shift issue and besides him, Harish Rawat and some other senior leaders of the party would participate.
Meanwhile, the State Congress president Pritam Singh said on Wednesday that he was unaware of any party stir to be held outside the Assembly at Gairasain on March 20, the day the Budget session is commencing. The similar view had been expressed by Hridayesh a few days ago when asked for her comment on the proposed stir at Gairsain.
Meanwhile, the Budget session of the State Assembly is likely to see fireworks as the Congress lawmakers have decided to raise the issue of the capital shift to force the State Government to clear its stance. The leader of the Opposition Indira Hridayesh has already made it clear that they would use every means to force the State Government to clarify its stance on the emotive issue in the Assembly as well as outside. It is known that she leads the camp in the state Congress which is not in favour of shifting the capital from Gairsain to Dehradun.
Kunjwal said that they would abide by the party’s decision of not going for any party-propelled agitation outside the Assembly as planned earlier. “However, I would personally go to the protest site outside Vidhan Sabha where several organistions have planned to stage demonstration, demanding the Governmental announcement of making Gairsain the permanent capital of the State. I have been fighting for the same since long and would continue to do the same in future.
The Congress-helmed Government did a lot in the form of developing infrastructure to clear decks for the final shift to Garisain. Even now when the party is in the opposition I would continue to fight for the cause.”