PNS | DEHRADUN
Dissent erupted in the Uttarakhand Congress over distribution of tickets for the elections of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the State. On denial of party ticket to his wife for the position of mayor of Pithoragarh, the State vice president (Organisation) of Congress, Mathuradutt Joshi has threatened to resign from the party posts.
The State unit of the party was also rocked by a video which went viral on Monday in which a claimant of the party ticket for a ward in Dehradun levelled serious charges on the senior leaders. Taking cognisance of the indiscipline by the party leaders the president of Mahanagar Congress Jaswinder Singh Gogi expelled Nemichand Suryavanshi, Ajay Rawat and Karan Kannojiya from the party for a period of six years.
Rukmani Joshi, the wife of the vice president of the party’s State unit Mathuradutt Joshi had staked claim for the party ticket for the post of Pithoragarh mayor. The party however fielded Manju Lunthi from here which triggered an emotional outburst from Joshi, a party veteran.
Joshi said that he has served the party for the last 48 years and has never asked anything for himself. “Harish Rawat, Yashpal Arya and Pritam Singh never gave me a chance to contest elections. This time I had requested that the party should give the mayoral ticket to my wife who in the past was a member of district Panchayat. But the party appears to support mafia elements. After serving the party for such a long time one gets hurt by such treatment,’’ he said.
Joshi added that he has decided that he will no longer remain active in the party works and said that if needed he will quit from the party posts.
The spokesperson of Uttarakhand Congress Garima Dasauni said that the Congress party has distributed the tickets in a transparent and fair manner. On the grievance of Mathuradutt Joshi, she said that he should have put his grievance in the party forum. “The party has always been very generous towards Joshi and under many State presidents he has always remained second in command in the party organisation. It is not proper for him to make derogatory comments on the official candidate of the party,’’ she said.
