Uttarakhand Congress, which has lost all six mayoral seats in the recently concluded local body polls, has created another drama by issuing show cause notice to 100 party leaders, including Cabinet Minister Dinesh Aggrawal and later withdrawing the letters. Sunil Kumar of The Pioneer interacted with Uttarakhand PCC spokesperson Dhirendra Pratap. Excerpts:
Do you believe that people have shown distrust of the Congress-led State Government which is why they have voted against Congress candidates in all six mayoral electionsIJ
It is true that Congress could not win even a single Mayor’s seat in the local body polls, but it does not mean that people have voted against the Congress. If you go by the facts and figures, then we won 22 municipal chairpersons’ seats and BJP also won mere 22 municipal chairpersons’ seats. It all happened due to the Sitarganj Assembly bypolls and Tehri lok Sabha bypolls. Due to poll election code of conduct, the State Government could not execute the public welfare works on ground. I will appeal to the Union Government to make a law on code of conduct because due to this work could not be executed on ground within stipulated time.
Why did you issue show cause notices to nearly 90 party leaders and workersIJ
You know that general elections are to be held next year or before; so it is our duty to find out the reason for party defeat after every election. During review meeting Congress mayoral candidate for Dehradun Municipal Corporation Suryakant Dhasmana alleged that election campaign committee lead by cabinet minister Dinesh Aggrawal neither canvassed during election nor informed him about their public meetings so we served notices to the party leaders and workers. Show cause notice does not mean that we have found them guilty. By issuing such letter party has given them a chance to clear the doubts because no party or organisation can survive without discipline. Meanwhile, we have served 87 notices and given the recipients 10 days time to reply.
As you served notice to the cabinet minister Dinesh Aggrawal, did chief minister Vijay Bahuguna register strong protest over the decisionIJ
It Is true that when we served notice to cabinet minister Dinesh Aggrawal then chief minister Vijay Bahuguna has strongly objected to it. As Chief Minister is considered to be the leader of the State and appointed by AICC president Sonia Gandhi, we have consulted Congress central disciplinary committee led by union Defence minister AK Antony.
Party workers alleged that disciplinary committee served notice without going for facts and figure and they followed Congress mayoral candidate Suryakant Dhasmana’s allegation blindly. Political analysts said that by doing this Congress is rubbing salt on the party leaders’ wounds, is it soIJ
The disciplinary committee of the PCC held a marathon four-hour meeting here and served 100 leaders, including Aggarwal with show cause notices asking them to explain within 10 days why they worked against the party’s official nominees in different municipal corporations. PCC vice president Suryakant Dhasmana, who lost Dehradun mayoral election to BJP’s Vinod Chamoli, had lodged a complaint against Aggarwal accusing him of campaigning against him. Aggarwal was the head of the PCC’s campaign committee for the polls held on April 28 which saw the BJP capturing four out of the six municipal corporations in Uttarakhand.
When you realized that you have been facing pressure from all quarters you rushed to Delhi. Why did not take approval from state PCC president yashapal AryaIJ
It is totally wrong because before serving notice to party leaders and workers we had informed PCC president Yashpal Arya, who had approved the disciplinary committee’s decision over phone. It is also true that Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has registered strong displeasure over the show cause notice to the cabinet minister Aggrawal. Being a Congress State head he agreed so we decided to serve notices to the party workers. After serving notice I came to Delhi to inform about the central disciplinary committee head AK Antony. I apprised Antonyji about the development then he told me to meet party senior leader Moti lal Vohra.
Political parties say Congress party is sinking boat, what is your view on thisIJ
I don’t know who said what but I would like to inform everyone that Congress is surviving since 1885. Quite often people especially opposition party says that Congress would not come back to power. I would like to remind them that in three states -Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, which were being ruled by the BJP, we have snatched from the jaws of BJP. Such phenomenal result would be seen in upcoming general election as well. As far as Uttarakhand BJP is concerned then I would like to remind them the Congress had won all five lok Sabha seats during general election-2009 when the state was being governed by Maj Gen Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri led BJP government. last but not least that it is congress party only which can take the nation ahead from now.
Do you think that local body polls outcome has shaken the confidence of CongressIJ
It is absolutely wrong because each election’s objective is different. In local body people vote on local issues, in assembly election people vote on state issue and in general election people would vote on national issues. People of Uttarakhand are very smart and they think twice or thrice before casting their vote.
There is an allegation that Congress spokesperson Dhirendra Pratap is taking decisions without consulting his seniors which is why party had to face embarrassment. For instance during Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar you announced Congress members would show black flags and later withdrew the decision. What do you have to say about this allegationIJ
It is a baseless allegation. As far as Narendra Modi’s protest is concerned, we took the decision after consulting state PCC president Yashpal Arya. later party realised that we had achieved our target then we withdrew the decision.