Chief Cinister Harish Rawat who is slated to hold a 'mute' protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on January 5 will also be accompanied by the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay and other party workers in support. Addressing the media, the PCC chief said that the Congress is quite disappointed with the negative attitude purportedly held by the Centre towards Uttarakhand. Earlier, a number of local political leaders and their supporters from parts of the Kaladhungi Vidhan Sabha constituency also joined the Congress party on the occasion. Speaking at a Press conference held at the Congress Bhawan, the PCC chief said that for the protest planned by chief minister Harish Rawat in the national capital, the PCC chief along with a number of otherparty members will also be joining him in support. Upadhyay alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union Government had been treating the state of Uttarakhand with a negative attitude which had caused much disappointment to the chief minister too. To protest against the negative attitude and apathy shown by the centre towards the state and its important issues, the chief minister has decided to protest in the national capital where Upadhyay along with a number of the party’s office bearers and members. He further said that in the democratic set-up in India, the State too has rights akin to the centre’s rights. The PCC chief went on to aver that this time the Congress workers who will sit to protest at Jantar Mantar will continue their protest and relent only after some proactive decision is taken by the central government. Earlier, the PCC chief spokesman Mathura Datt Joshi informed that a number of members of different political parties led by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Prakash Joshi joined the Congress party formally. Welcoming the newcomers to Congress, Upadhyay spoke of the political history of the party averring that it had always stood for maintaining the secular fabric of the nation. Through means like five-year plans, the Congress established milestones in developmental activities, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister Harish Rawat also referred to the long political history of the Congress party. Members of all sections of the society want to be connected with the Congress, opined the chief minister. The Congress-led State Government on its part is also undertaking various schemes and providing facilities with the welfare of all the segments of society, he added.
Expressing his views, Prakash Joshi spoke of the Congress having worked for the students and youth of the nation. Claiming that under the leadership of AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi, the Congress had facilitated the initiation of transparency in politics in the nation.