Upadhyay''s stand on PDF shows intense struggle in Cong : The Tribune India

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Upadhyay''s stand on PDF shows intense struggle in Cong

DEHRADUN: The recent statement of state Congress president Kishore Upadhyay regarding need to assess works done by ministers belonging to the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) contradicts the stand taken by Chief Minister Harish Rawat.



SMA Kazmi

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 18

The recent statement of state Congress president Kishore Upadhyay regarding need to assess works done by ministers belonging to the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) contradicts the stand taken by Chief Minister Harish Rawat. The Chief Minister has ruled out ouster of any PDF minister from his ministry.

Upadhyay has stated that in view of the preparations for the next Assembly polls scheduled to be held in January 2017, there was a need to assess the work of the ministers belonging to the PDF, as their performance would have a bearing on the poll prospects of the Congress.

An intense struggle has been going on in the Uttarakhand Congress on the relationship of the PDF ministers with the Congress. The issue was prominently raised by the party legislators and Upadhyay himself during the Manthan Shivir organised by the party in Dehradun last week in presence of general secretary in charge of party affairs in Uttarakhand Ambika Soni, much to the chagrin of the Chief Minister.

The demand for ouster of some of the PDF ministers by former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and his group in tandem with some leaders belonging to the Chief Minister's camp, particularly Upadhyay, has annoyed Harish Rawat. More than the poll prospects of the Congress, it was the individual interests of the Congress legislators and leaders that have prompted them to raise the demand.

The politics of former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna is simple and understandable. He wants to pay Chief Minister Harish Rawat in the same coin by sabotaging his applecart and demanding better representation of Congress legislators including his own supporters in the state Ministry. This would keep his own group of legislators intact and he would be seen as a crusader for their rights. The PDF ministers, namely Mantri Prasad Naithani and Dinesh Dhania, reacting to his demand, wondered that when Vijay Bahuguna was the Chief Minister himself, he never acted on the issue. The Bahuguna camp argues that politics is dynamic and the situation has changed after the Congress won three byelections held in July last year, bringing the party closer to majority in the state Assembly.

Kishore Upadhyay is worried about his own political survival, since Dinesh Dhani, an Independent minister, who defeated him from Tehri segment in the last Assembly polls, is state Tourism Minister and considered close to the Chief Minister. Similarly, other senior party leaders such as Shoorveer Sajwan, who was defeated by Mantri Prasad Naithani from Devprayag Assembly segment, are concerned about their fate. Many of the senior legislators including Hira Singh Bisht and Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion are also eyeing ministerial berths in case there is a reshuffle.

Out of the seven PDF legislators, three, namely Mantri Prasad Naithani, Dinesh Dhanai and Harish Chander Durgapal, are Independents, while three belong to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and one to the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD). After the 2012 state Assembly polls, the Congress got support from these seven PDF members to get a majority in the House and made five of them, namely Mantri Prasad Naithani, Harish Chander Dugapal, Dinesh Dhania, Surinder Rakesh (BSP) and Pritam Singh Panwar (UKD), ministers.

Chief Minister Harish Rawat has stood with his PDF allies and has kept his cards close to his chest on their fate ahead of the next Assembly polls. Probably, he does not want to be seen as a traitor in the eyes of the general public by dumping them. He understands that three Independent PDF ministers originally belonged to the Congress and won the last Assembly polls as rebel candidates and are expected to join their mother party before the next polls. The BSP has become weak in its stronghold of Haridwar since Harish Rawat started his politics in the district in 2009.

 

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