Whether the attempts at unification of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal factions will be successful or not is likely to become clear on Wednesday after the meeting of factional leaders slated to be held in Dehradun.
According to Manmohan lakhera, the media in charge of the faction headed by Trivendra Singh Panwar, a party meeting aimed at unification of the factions had been held at Rishikesh on May 6 but since party leader Kashi Singh Airy was unable to attend this meeting, another meeting had been called in Dehradun on May 12.
Since now Airy has himself said that he will be attend the meeting in Dehradun on May 13 in stead of May 12, the meeting was postponed by a day. The top leaders of UKD including Airy, Diwakar Bhatt and Panwar among others are expected to attend this meeting on Wednesday.
According to Panwar, the party leadership intends to convey the message to the people that the party is now working towards developing as per the aspirations of the public. He has already stated that due to some decisions taken by the party to be part of the government in the past, the UKD was not able to develop as per the aspirations of the public. However, forgiving the past mistakes of some party leaders, the UKD now wants to free Uttarakhand from the grip of national political parties, he said.
It will be recalled that Panwar had already met Airy once in the past regarding unification of the party factions. After this meeting, various issues were slated to be discussed but a consensus could not be reached on these issues due to the Bhagwanpur Assembly by-poll. Panwar has also stressed that some people are trying to derail the efforts being undertaken for unification of the party factions.
It is worth mentioning here that the undivided UKD had three MlAs in the previous State assembly-including Diwakar Bhatt who was made a cabinet minister for the party’s support to the BJP led State government from 2007 to 2012. In the present Assembly, the party has only one MlA Pritam Panwar who is also a cabinet minister who was suspended by Panwar from the party.
Observers point out that factionalism had taken the party on a downward spiral drastically reducing its public support base. The UKD was once the sole regional party of Uttarakhand that had played a part in the Statehood movement. Whether the efforts aimed at its unification succeed or not will become clearer on Wednesday.