The first meeting of Uttarakhand Congress Coordination Committee, constituted by the party high command, that was held on late Friday evening at the residence of the Sate party in-charge Ambika Soni in Delhi, saw escalation of the intra-party squabbling.
The committee was formed in January to strike a balance between the State Government and the State party with eyes fixed on the upcoming Assembly election slated early next year. Source said that the former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had left the meeting in a huff, venting his anger over the high command leaving the reshuffle of the State Cabinet to the exclusive discretion of the Chief Minister Harish Rawat.
Political analysts say that this marks a major win of the Rawat faction over the rivals, something that would exacerbate the schism within the State party folds ahead of the Assembly election.
Notably, leaving the ruling faction in the State Congress red-faced, the Congress high command had foisted a eight- member coordination committee that includes the names of the intractable dissenters of the likes of former CM Vijay Bahuguna, cabinet ministers Indira Hridayesh and Preetam Singh.
The party top brass made it clear that it would not brook factionalism eating into the electoral prospects of the party in the State which is in the election gear with the crucial Assembly election scheduled for early next year.
AICC general secretary Ambika Soni was made head of the committee, a move that shows that the top brass had constituted the committee to show the ruling faction in the State party their right place in the Congress scheme of things where the writ of the high command finally counts.
Other members of the committee are PCC president Kishore Upadhyay, who has been made convener, Chief Minister Harish Rawat, AICC secretary in-charge Sanjay Kapoor and MlA Sarita Arya.
Then it was said that the constitution of the coordination committee was a serious setback for the CM Harish Rawat, who was supposed to be lording over the party organisation in the State. But the assessment has proved wrong, at least for now, as the wily CM has shown his manipulative acumen by currying favour with the high command as far as the sensitive issue of the Cabinet reshuffle is concerned . Observers say that too much elation on the part of the ruling faction is unjustified as the high command is breathing down their neck through the committee.
However, it must be admitted that CM Rawat has been shown as its best as far as maneuverability is concerned. Though he ascribed to the early exit of Bahuguna to a commitment to attend a wedding ceremony in Meerut while talking to the media things were palpable that the former CM was on the edge with his bête noir turning the table again on him by keeping with him the prerogative to reshuffle his Cabinet the way he likes thanks to the indulgence of the high command.
A visibly confident CM also rejected a rumour the speculations of the involvement of MGM and Wadra in the tea estates spread across Dehradun. Rubbishing charges that his government is hell-bent on encroaching the land under the tea plantations with ulterior motives, he said that none should forget the fact that the third of Dehradun city had come up on the land held by the tea plantations.
“I have no knowledge of who MGM is,” he said. Dubbing the State BJP’s role vis-à-vis the Smart City project as highly diabolical, he said the saffron party had initially pressured them to earmark land for the project. “Then they took a u- turn and started opposing the State government’s move, chorusing with others inimical to the implementation of the project. We have identified the land to be taken up to implement the project in Dehradun. Now, it is upto the Centre to take the final call,” he said.
Stressing on his government’s achievement in laying down a developmental roadmap for the State, he said things have been deliberated upon at length in course of the co-ordination committee meeting. “Besides, the report card of the Congress- led Uttarakhand government was discussed threadbare. Now, the roadmap being aptly laid down, we would act to execute it on the ground,” he said.
Dwelling on the slew of initiatives his government has taken to help the State look up developmentally, CM said they have planned to link Dehradun, Haridwar and Rishikesh with Metro Rail. “There are many others in the pipeline which would see the light of the day in the near future,” he said.