Garhwal region getting neglected as the leaders from Kumaon holding important position in BJP & Congress
Tuesday, 12 April | PNS | Dehradun
With the appointment of Karan Mahra as the new president of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) and Yashpal Arya as the leader of the Congress legislature party (CLP), the axis of the politics of Uttarakhand has shifted to the Kumaon region. Apart from the opposition Congress, the dominance of leaders of Kumaon region is clearly visible in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami belongs to Pithoragarh district and contests from Udham Singh Nagar district of Kumaon while the lone representative from Uttarakhand in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s council of ministers, Ajay Bhatt also belongs to Nainital district of Kumaon. The president of Uttarakhand BJP, Madan Kaushik belongs to Haridwar district which though falls in Garhwal division but is considered detached from the Garhwal area which comprises of the districts of Dehradun, Pauri, Tehri, Chamoli, Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts.
In the recent assembly elections, the BJP secured a resounding victory in the above mentioned six districts of Garhwal. The saffron party registered victory in 27 out of 30 seats in the Garhwal area while the Congress party could win in three seats (Badrinath in Chamoli, Chakrata in Dehradun and Pratapnagar in Tehri district).
After prolonged deliberations and brainstorming, the central leadership of the Congress party announced the names of new PCC president and CLP leader on Sunday. Apart from appointing Mahra and Arya on these two key positions, the Congress has also given the responsibility of deputy leader of CLP to young Bhuwan Chandra Kapdi who also belongs to Kumaon region. Kapdi was probably rewarded by the party high command for his unique feat of defeating the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in Khatima assembly constituency in the recent assembly election.
Mahra would replace Ganesh Godiyal who hails from Srinagar in Garhwal while Yashpal Arya would take charge of CLP leader from Chakrata MLA Pritam Singh. It is learnt that the Congress high command has taken a serious note of the intense factionalism in the party which it thought had resulted in defeat of the party in the recent assembly elections.
The shifting of power centre from Garhwal to Kumaon in Uttarakhand is baffling the experts as this region accounts for about 60 per cent of the total population and total area of the state. Garhwal region has given six chief ministers (Nityanand Swami, Maj Gen B C Khanduri, Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank, Vijay Bahuguna, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat) to the state and many leaders who had held important assignments in state and Union governments and in the political parties. The experts opine that the Congress and BJP cannot ignore Garhwal region for long and say that both these parties would take corrective steps to accommodate the leaders of this region in future.
