The internal rift in the State Congress became clear on Tuesday when the former Chief Minister and AICC general secretary Harish Rawat arrived at Rajiv Bhawan, the State congress headquarters, with none from the camp loyal to the State Congress president Pritam Singh and the leader of the Opposition Indira Hridayesh being present.
Rawat was accompanied by Dharchula MLA Harish Dhami, Kedarnath MLA Manoj Rawat, Congress spokesperson Garima Dasauni and many of his staunch supporters.
However, the senior State leaders were conspicuous by their absence at the time when the AICC general secretary and the former CM was seated in the State party office. Notably, he comes but rarely now to the State party office.
During his interaction with the media, Rawat could not have fully concealed his displeasure on the manner in which the State Congress is functioning now. “I thought it prudent to lodge my protest on some very important issues which I think are not being addressed to appropriately,’’ he said.
When asked whether the present leadership of the party is not effectively raising these issues, Rawat, known for his witty repartees, said, “I am just preparing the pitch for others to bat on. I am in the role of a curator who prepares pitch.’’
The Congress stalwart refused to be drawn into the row triggered by the recent expulsion of some of his supporters from the party but added that the party should not forget those who had stood by the party during its hard times.
In response to a question, he claimed that there is no factionalism in the state Congress.
The internal politics of Congress in Uttarakhand remains on the boil in the aftermath of the not-so-good performance in the recently concluded urban local body polls. The leaders of the two factions blamed each other for the poor poll show. Things were further aggravated after some party leaders, including Harish Rawat loyalists Maruti Shah and Khajan Pandey, were expelled from the party for a period of six years on the charge of anti-party activities.