Sunday, 20 October 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Thirteen leaders have staked claim for the Congress party ticket for the Kedarnath Assembly by-election. They are Alok Bagwadi, Laxman Rawat, former MLA Manoj Rawat, Veer Singh Budera, Vinod Rana, Kuldeep Kandari, Shashi Semwal, Ganesh Tiwari, district Congress president Kunwar Sajwan, Sheeshpal Singh Bisht, Avtar Singh Negi, Ritu Pushpwan and Abhishek Bhandari.
These leaders and their representatives put forward their candidature for party ticket to the team of observers appointed by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) for selection of candidate at Agastyamuni on Saturday.
The senior observer and former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Ganesh Godiyal and observers the deputy leader of Congress legislature party Bhuwan Kapdi, Jhabreda MLA Virendra Jaati and Badrinath MLA Lakhpat Butola held separate meetings with the prospective candidates. The observers will send their report to the party high command which will make a final decision on the name of the candidate.
Addressing the party workers and leaders, Godiyal said that it is a good sign for the Congress that many leaders have staked their claim for the party ticket from Kedarnath. He accused the ruling BJP for spreading lies on factionalism in the Congress party. Godiyal said that candidate selection is an internal matter of every political party so the parties should not comment on the selection process of other parties. Godiyal expressed confidence that the Congress party is set to register victory in the Kedarnath bypoll. Taking a dig at the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami for making many announcements for the constituency just ahead of the bypoll, Godiyal said that Kedarnath was completely ignored when Late Shaila Rani Rawat, the MLA of Kedarnath was alive. He also claimed that contrary to the assertion made by CM Dhami and BJP on stopping the construction of controversial Kedarnath Dham at Buradi in New Delhi the construction activity is continuing in Buradi.
Godiyal said that the BJP government is apathetic towards the unemployed and contractual workers. He said that the High Court (HC) had ordered the State government to pay similar salary for similar work but instead of following the court order on the employees working on menial salaries for the last 10-15 years, the government went to Supreme Court (SC) against the HC order. The Congress leader said that the SC has now rejected the appeal of the Uttarakhand government which is now planning to file another SLP in the case.
