Tuesday, 10 SEPTEMBER 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The decision of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) to cancel all the appointments made by the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara in the party organisation without its permission shows a lack of communication between the State unit of the party with the central leadership and apathy of the party high command towards the party affairs in Uttarakhand.
It is learnt that the in-charge of the Uttarakhand Congress Kumari Selja was not happy with the feedback given by some of the senior leaders about the functioning of the State unit and the working style of the PCC president Karan Mahara and dashed the letter to the PCC which embarrassed Mahara. Interestingly, the letter was sent at the time when the Congress party is bracing itself for the battle of Vidhan Sabha elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. What is intriguing is that Selja sent the letter when she herself is trying hard to get as many of her supporters the tickets of Congress party in Haryana and is busy in election campaign there, apart from being projected as a chief ministerial candidate by some.
It is pertinent to mention here that PCC president Mahara is yet to constitute the State unit of the party. He was appointed by the Congress high command in April 2022 after the party lost the assembly election for the second consecutive time in Uttarakhand. In the tenure of Mahara the organisational elections in the State party unit were held. The PCC president had sent the list of the party office bearers to the AICC in the year 2022 but despite many reminders and proposals the central leadership is yet to endorse this list. It is learnt that difference of opinion among senior leaders of the party is forcing the central leadership to withhold the list sent by the PCC president. To the discomfiture of the well wishers of the party the leadership is Delhi has so far shown little interest in Uttarakhand and has not acted to resolve internal differences between the senior leaders of Uttarakhand.
One of the leaders of the party considered close to the PCC president told The Pioneer that the Mahara had made some appointments in the State unit when Devendra Yadav was the State in-charge of the party. He said that in recent times Mahara has only appointed Rakesh Negi as the district president of Pachwa Doon unit of the party.
“The appointment of Negi was necessitated by the defection of Pachwa Doon president Laxmi Agarwal to BJP during the Lok Sabha elections. The PCC president has made no other appointments than this one. It is unfortunate that Mahara is not being allowed to function,’’ he lamented.
Senior journalist Jay Singh Rawat told The Pioneer that there is an internal democracy in the Congress party but it has always hurt the party. He said that it appears that the PCC president Mahara has failed to earn the respect of senior leaders of the party in Uttarakhand.
