PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
The Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee has expelled three party leaders for being involved in anti-party activities. A letter issued by the State Congress general secretary (Organisation) Rajendra Singh Bhandari states that the party’s former Pithoragarh district head Mahendra Singh Lunthi, former Mahila Congress district head Bhawna Nagarkoti and Deepak Lunthi have been expelled from the party for a period of six years for anti-party activities. Bhandari said that the PCC is undertaking the Parivartan Sankalp Sammela programme across the State on the directions of the All India Congress Committee. One such event was presided over by the PCC president Ganesh Godiyal in the Pithoragarh Vidhan Sabha constituency on June 30. “The three party leaders in question along with their supporters had caused disruption during the programme which was viewed as blatant indiscipline. The actions of these leaders during the programme and their anti-party activities dented the image of the party organisation. Taking serious cognisance of the incident, the party leadership served show cause notices to these leaders seeking their explanation within three days while the Pithoragarh district Congress committee was asked to submit a detailed report. Based on this and guidelines from the party’s central leadership, the three have been expelled from the party for six years with immediate effect,” Bhandari said.
It will be recalled that during the event, the then Mahila Congress district president Nagarkoti had raised the issue of municipal body election in Pithoragarh and blamed local MLA Mayukh Mahar for the Congress candidate’s loss. This angered Mahar who left the programme with his supporters. In the Municipal Corporation of Pithoragarh election, the Congress had fielded Anju Lunthi as its mayoral candidate while Mahar had supported independent candidate Monika Mahar. The BJP candidate Kalpana Devlal was elected Pithoragarh mayor in the election.
