Sunday, 09 July 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
While commenting on the cabinet expansion speculation in Uttarakhand for some days, the Aam Aadmi Party spokesman of Garhwal division, Ravindra Singh Anand said in a statement on Saturday that the expansion is pending for almost two years now. “If we take the first tenure of the Dhami government, expansion is being kept on hold for three years,” he said and added that this has been adversely impacting the development of the State.
He said that this failure to expand the council of ministers either at the Centre or in the State can be ascribed to raging intra-party factionalism. “Maybe the party is dragging its feet as the leaders know that the expansion may exacerbate the dissension within the ranks of the party,” he said and added that the party brass might not go for the expansion in view of the upcoming civic body and Lok Sabha elections.
Explaining why this is adversely impacting the State’s development, the State AAP leader said that the CM has 50 or more departments under him. “Is it possible for him to check files pertaining to all these departments? No CM can do this and so things are not being addressed as they should be,” he said.
He further said that this is one of the important reasons why the expected level of development has been eluding Uttarakhand despite 23 years having passed since it came up as a separate State. “The tradition of the CMs failing to expand their councils of ministers has been continuing since the State’s inception and it is to be seen what the BJP will do in this crucial matter,” he said.
