The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Airy faction) expanded its executive committee on the weekend but the status of the party remains dubious as the factions led by Airy and his rival Trivendra Singh Panwar continue to call each other unconstitutional.
The continued fight between the two factions and the resulting uncertainty regarding the status of the party and its central leadership is further weakening the party which had managed to win only one seat in the 2012 Assembly elections. While the Airy faction claims itself to be the valid party, the Panwar faction claims itself to be valid and has called the expansion of the executive improper.
The State of the UKD has been deteriorating for the past couple of years as leaders of the party fight for supremacy. Till last year there about a dozen factions and offshoots of the UKD which have now dropped down to two factions. Trivendra Singh Panwar was recently re-elected to the post of party chief by his faction after which the subsequent attempt by Panwar faction to enter the party office had resulted in a violent altercation between the two factions.
Since then the Panwar faction has met the District Magistrate demanding that the Airy faction be removed from the party office stating that both factions should be treated in the same manner regarding possession of the party office. The Airy faction on the other hand refutes allegations of being unconstitutional made by the rivals. The Panwar faction has been alleging the hand of the Congress party in the developments which are causing the downfall of the party.
However, Panwar himself is accused of autocracy by even the sole MlA of the party, cabinet minister Pritam Singh Panwar, who had also been suspended from the party by Panwar. While the two factions continue to battle it out, political observers state that with the ongoing feud it will be difficult for this once important regional party to regain its credibility in the eyes of the public if the situation doesn’t improve drastically soon.