Discontentment among the State Congress leaders who had been demanding restructuring of the party for long, continued even after the formation of the new State Congress working committee. It is understandable that given long list of position-seekers within the party, it is not possible for the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Kishore Upadhyay to accommodate all the party activists in one capacity or other in the party organisation. However, the party activists here have a different take on this issue. They are of the view that many of the activists working hard on the ground have been kept at bay in the recent re-jigging exercise. A number of party leaders have already been accommodated in the Government and different other Government- run committees and councils. More so, a huge number of party leaders have also been given responsibilities in the State working committee.
However, many such ‘hardworking party activists’ who have worked for the party on the ground have been ignored, they alleged. Sensing resentment smouldering in the party rank and file, CM Harish Rawat sought to play down the issue, saying that the Congress, endowed with a huge bench strength, would accommodate the disgruntled in the coming days during his Kumaon trip on Friday.
It may be recalled that the Congress party workers started demanding for restructuring of the party soon after the Congress party returned to power in 2012, but the demand gained momentum after Upadhyaya became UPCC president last year.
Now after forming the state working committee, the state Congress party is likely to re-jig the party organisation at block and village panchayat levels across the state to accoimodate the left-out ‘sincere and hardworking’ party activists in the decision- making process of the party, the party insiders here maintain. But it would be quite interesting to see how the state Congress party leadership reaches out to all within the at a time when the state Congress is eyeing the State Assembly polls in 2017.