At a time when the Congress in Uttarakhand appears struggling to tackle internal disagreements, factionalism and the after-effects of 10 of its (ex)MlAs joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, the demand made by women leaders of the party including Chief Minister Harish Rawat’s daughter Anupama Rawat to be fielded as party candidates in the coming Assembly election is likely to add to the woes of the party leadership not just in the State but also at the Central level.
Political analysts point out that the demand raised prominently by Congress women leaders for party ticket in the coming Vidhan Sabha polls during the State visit of All India Mahila Congress president Shobha Oza might end up exacerbating the discomfort which the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay has been alluding to more frequently in no uncertain terms especially after the start of party’s procedural preparations for the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections.
According to the Mahila Congress Mahanagar head Kamlesh Raman, the All India Mahila Congress secretary Anupama Rawat had expressed her gratitude to Oza for her recent State visit during which Oza had also demanded that 33 per cent of the party tickets should be allocated to Mahila Congress leaders for contesting in the Vidhan Sabha elections slated to be held in 2017.
Anupama Rawat sought the party ticket for the coming Assembly elections from Haridwar Rural Assembly
constituency while the Mahila Congress State co in-charge Khashti Bisht sought party ticket from Kiccha
constituency.
The other Mahila Congress leaders demanding party ticket for the Vidhan Sabha elections include Mahila Congress State vice president Najma Khan from Sahaspur constituency, Kamlesh Raman from Rajpur Road, Meena Rawat from Cantt and Chandrakala Negi from Rudraprayag Assembly constituencies among others.
Sources in the Congress Bhawan opined that the PCC president Kishore Upadhyay who had recently contracted dengue, had no dearth of issues to deal with including his continuing disagreement with Chief Minister Harish Rawat on the status of the Congress-led State Government’s alliance partner–Progressive Democratic Front (PDF).
While the CM talks of “coalition dharma”, the PCC chief maintains that Congress MlAs should be accorded importance now to resolve their “just grievance” of being ignored in favour of PDF MlAs for long.
On condition of his identity not being disclosed, an office bearer of the PCC pointed to the probability of internal disagreements rising further, even intensifying in some cases as the Assembly elections approach closer.
He said, “The sitting MlAs of the constituencies, from where the Mahila Congress leaders are seeking the party tickets are not likely to give up their claim without any questions being asked. The sitting MlAs of some of the constituencies where the women leaders are now demanding the party ticket to contest the Assembly polls, have done considerable ‘work’ especially on aspects like regularisation of slum settlements. Some of them have remained quite active during their term which has strengthened their chances of being re-elected from the same constituency. This is also known to the PCC which will now have to overcome the quandary while also trying to retain the respectful stance maintained officially by the party towards women.”