Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Rishikesh on Monday is being projected by some elements in the party in Uttarakhand as an ‘achievement’ of the Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay. The visit is expected to galvanise the party cadre for campaigning to ensure re-election of the Congress to office and to cement internal unity among the party workers. However, inside sources aver that the situation in the party is not as it is being projected as factions and differences have been quelled only temporarily and may resurface in the coming days to the detriment of the party’s electoral chances.
Political analysts recall that almost till the end of 2016, an uncomfortable truce of sorts between the PCC chief Kishore Upadhyay and chief minister Harish Rawat was obvious regarding their differences on different issues. However, with the start of 2017, the party has been projecting an image of both the leaders in ‘compatibility-mode’, setting their differences aside and uniting along with their supporters with an aim to secure re-election in the Vidhan Sabha election 2017. Observers point out that presently the Congress is working with a proactive image, eliciting support from the voters to secure a complete five-year tenure for Rawat to enable the state government under him to achieve the ‘developmental aspirations’ of the people. However, depending on the guidance given by Rahul Gandhi to party workers and leaders on Monday and factors like the names included in the Congress’ candidate list, the ‘proactive image’ might be affected by disturbances forecast by some following the expressions and steps taken by those miffed at being left out. It now remains to be seen whether the Congress national vice president’s visit helps consolidate the party cadre or ends up providing ammunition to factional elements to take steps which might prove detrimental to the party.