In order to establish communication and dialogue with the lower rungs of the Congress cadre, the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyaya will begin a week-long tour of the Kumaon region from Monday. At a time when factionalism continues to raise its head in Congress in Uttarakhand, the PCC president's Kumaon tour is seen as one of the measures aimed at organisationaly strengthening the party.
After the chief minister Harish Rawat recently announced a halt on foreign tours by cabinet ministers and bureaucrats, cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat had criticised this decision. later, a delegation of some MlAs close to former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna had also gone to New Delhi reportedly to express dissatisfaction at the functioning of the Harish Rawat-led Government.
According to the Uttarakhand PCC media coordinator Surendra Singh Arya, at his first Press conference after assuming the charge of PCC president, Upadhyaya had announced measures to strengthen the party organisation.
As part of these measures, Upadhyaya is slated to tour the Garhwal and Kumaon regions of the State. In the first stage, the PCC chief will reach Haldwani on Monday and during his week-long tour of the Kumaon region, he will also visit and meet party workers at Jainti in Almora district, Kausani, Kot Bhramari, Almora, Pithoragarh, lohaghat, Banbasa, Rudrapur, Pantnagar and Khatima before returning to Dehradun on September 2. In the meantime, the PCC chief has appointed senior party leaders Rajendra Shah and Mathura Datt Joshi as the PCC programme in-charge for the organisation and management of party programmes.
Upadhyaya has also appointed senior party leaders Tika Ram Pandey and Vipul Jain as the PCC membership campaign co-coordinators. Though the PCC chief is aiming to encourage the party cadre from the grassroots level and and up to unite and strengthen the Congress organisation in Uttarakhand, factionalism in the party continues to pose a challenge. The faction of MlAs close to former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna is miffed at not being accorded a place in chief minister Harish Rawat's cabinet. It remains to be seen as to how the PCC chief tackles the infighting in the party.