With completion of last round of polling on Monday, all eyes are now on the counting of votes on May 16, it is rather a testing time for both the Harish Rawat led State Government and Yashpal Arya as head of the State Congress unit to meet the expectations of the party's central leadership as the popular verdict of the general elections 2014 will not only set the tone and tenure of the Congress-led State Government in Uttarakhand but also have a 'decisive' impact on the organisational structure of the State ruling party.
Although the principal Opposition party in the Himalayan State, the BJP, has ruled any possibility on its part to destabilise the Congress led State Government in case the verdict goes against the ruling party in the State, it is likely that the ruling coalition led by the Congress party in the State may have to face a tough time which is already on the back foot over not being able to put in place necessary basic infrastructure to facilitate the Char Dham pilgrimage as smoothly as it used to be before disaster struck the State last year.
The fact of the matter is that as the officials concerned of the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board said that on account of poor condition of basic services, only about 500 pilgrims are being allowed to Kedarnath valley while over 10,000 pilgrims used to visit the same Kedarnath Dham till last year.“Our basic infrastructure capacity is to provide accommodation to only 300 pilgrims per day in the Kedarnath valley . Therefore, we had to limit the flow of pilgrims to the Kedarnath shrine,” the officials of the UTDC further said.
It is worth mentioning here that the central leadership of the Congress party had to replace the then Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Vijay Bahuguna on the pretext of mishandling the situation on the Char Dham pilgrimage route due to the June 2013 disaster.Further, the private sector is not returning to Kedarnath valley and other areas of the region to rebuild basic infrastructure, the State Government has so far been able to put in place the necessary basic infrastructure to accommodate only 300 pilgrims per day in the Kedarnath valley, as the officials concerned informed.
Though the State Government has now decided to launch certain promotional measures like concession on water and electricity bills to the traders on the Char Dham pilgrimage routes, it is to be seen to what extent the Congress led State Government manages to attract the private sector for rebuilding basic infrastructure on the upper Himalayan region of the Char Dham routes in the coming days. Similarly, as the Congress party insiders here admit in case the popular verdict goes against the ruling party in the State, it will definitely have an 'adverse' impact on the State party leadership too in the post election period.
It may be recalled that the Congress party won all five lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand in the previous general elections of 2009 under the leadership of state Congress party president Yashpal Arya. Significantly, the state Congress party kept on maintaining the momentum in its favour returning to power in Uttarakhand in 2012 also under the leadership of state Congress party president Yashpal Arya.
But it is also to note that soon after formation of the Congress led State Government in Uttarakhand, demand for change of leadership from within the State unit of the Congress party also started gaining momentum. Realising the mood of the party rank and file against him incumbent Yashpal Arya handed over his resignation to the party high command.
But the party central leadership did not accept his resignation.Rather the party high command decided to go to the lok Sabha polls this year too in Uttarakhand under the leadership of Yashpal Arya.