Warring Gunsola, Thapli come together in Mussoorie

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, January 14

The efforts to unite the warring factions in the Congress vying for the ticket from Mussoorie have begun earnestly.

The two ticket aspirants have come together and decided to support either of them whom the party fields from Mussoorie. Former Mussoorie MLA Jot Singh Gunsola and rebel Congress leader Godavari Thapli, who fought the last elections from the seat as an Independent candidate, had a meeting at a hotel today and later announced the decision.

Gunsola said a 11-member central election coordination committee had been constituted for the Mussoorie Assembly seat to oversee election issues. The two candidates would support each other in case either of them gets the ticket. Once united, the Congress would be able to regain the lost seat. BJP’s Ganesh Joshi is the incumbent Mussoorie MLA.

Gunsola and Thapli said Joshi had failed to initiate development in the constituency and the projects underway were being implemented due to their efforts and on the direction of Chief Minister Harish Rawat. District Congress president Yameen Ansari said with the two warring Congress leaders coming together, the party would gain strength and emerge victorious in the Assembly elections. Mussoorie had been a Congress bastion for a long time but the party lost the seat last time due to factionalism as several leaders contested the elections as Independent candidates.

Thapli said she along with her husband Upendar Thapli and Gunsola had staked their claim to the ticket from Mussoorie but they would support whomsoever the party fields. On the other hand, another Congress leader Manish Verma, who has also staked his claim to the ticket from Mussoorie, is livid with Thapli and Gunsola that they did not consult him on the matter. He said as he is also in the fray he should have been invited to the meeting. “Gunsola and Thapli are fearful that they are out of the contest for the ticket. The party is thinking of not repeating those who had lost elections continuously and also those who fought the elections against the official candidate,” said Verma.

He said Godavari Thapli had rebelled against the Congress in Mussoorie several times, leading to the defeat of the party candidate. The party might discard their candidatures and consider a new face this time. Municipal Council member Anuj Gupta, Upendar Thapli and Prashant Khanduri were present.