Friday, 28 July 2023 | Gajendra Singh Negi | DEHRADUN
Stinging Singh
Furious after mercurial Harak Singh Rawat released a video of a conversation with him, cabinet minister Prem Chand Agarwal is accusing Rawat of blatant breach of trust. In the conversation, the video which is making rounds, Rawat is shown explaining realpolitik to Agarwal while asking him to use his influence to stop the demolition of houses in IDPL colony, Rishikesh. Though feeling neglected in the Congress party to which he defected from the BJP just before the 2022 Assembly elections, Harak longs to contest Lok Sabha election from Haridwar of which Rishikesh Assembly (represented by Agarwal) is a part, to make a comeback to the political centre-stage. The sting is an attempt by Harak to strike a chord with the affected families and electorate of Haridwar by using Agarwal as a pawn to further his electoral interests. In 2016, Dwarahat MLA Madan Bisht was allegedly at the receiving end of the Harak’s style of politics in a similar case of sting. Incidentally, both Bisht and Harak are now in the Congress party but the bitterness caused by the seven- year- old sting is yet to dissipate.
Mission Uttarakhand
Intense deliberation on organisational issues, motivating the party cadre and increasing participation of MPs in the activities of the party in the Himalayan State were held in the recent meeting of the party MPs with the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and in- charge and co in- charge of the saffron party in the State in New Delhi. The party’s central leadership is believed to have made it clear to the State leaders that they need to repeat the performance of 2014 and 2019 when BJP bagged all the five seats up for grabs in its kitty in the 2024 Lok Sabha election too. It is learnt that a strict scrutiny of the performance of the MPs is being done and the party can deny tickets to some of the sitting MPs in Uttarakhand to negate the anti- incumbency factor in order to achieve the target of a clean sweep again in the State.
Allowance power
Deepak Joshi, the incumbent president of the Uttarakhand secretariat association- the powerful federation of secretariat employees of the State- is aspiring for a record fourth term in the coveted position. He was successful in persuading the State administration to affect a hike in the special allowance of the secretariat employees just ahead of the elections of the secretariat association. In the high- octane campaign which is putting the seasoned politicians to shame, the opponents of Joshi are hoping that anti- incumbency of three tenures will prove to be his undoing this time. However supporters of Joshi believe that the power of special allowance coupled with a macho image will propel him to victory.
