Tuesday, 30 January 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The well attended workers conclave addressed by the President of Congress party Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday seems to have boosted the sagging morale of the Congress foot soldiers in Uttarakhand. The Congress leaders claim that the speech of Kharge has succeeded in instilling confidence in the rank and file of the party.
In his address Kharge launched a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and exhorted the party workers to work hard to overthrow the BJP government. He also gave a message of unity to the leaders who at times remain at loggerheads with one another. In an attempt to woo the formidable Dalit vote bank in the state which constitutes about 19 per cent of the total population, Kharge- who himself is a Dalit -warned that the BJP government is planning to end reservation in government jobs and will revive the philosophy preached by Manu.
The success of the meeting gave an indication that all the top leaders of the faction ridden worked in tandem. The bonhomie between the prominent leaders’ former chief minister Harish Rawat, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara, former PCC president Pritam Singh and Ganesh Godiyal was visible on the stage and during the informal meeting with the Congress president after the public meeting. In the short visit Kharge is learnt to have directed the top leaders to sink their differences for the survival of the party.
A string of defeats in Uttarakhand has demoralised the Congress party workers and its leaders. The BJP is on a winning streak in the State ever since it bagged all the five parliamentary seats in 2014. It then came to power in the State in the assembly elections of 2017 and its candidates again secured landslide victories in the parliamentary elections of 2019. Negating the anti incumbency and the trend the BJP retained its power in the State in the assembly elections of 2022. These defeats have shaken up the morale of the cadre of the party and in his visit Kharge tried to charge up the party.
