Rajya Sabha elections; Cong to field no candidate
Friday, 23 October 2020 | PNS | Dehradun
We are not in position to contest election: Pritam
In the crucial elections for one seat of Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand, the state Congress party has given a walkover to the ruling BJP. The party which has only 11 MLAs in the house of 70 in the state has decided to not field any candidate for the seat falling vacant on completion of term of its MP Raj Babbar. Talking to the media persons at the state headquarters of the Congress party here on Thursday, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) President Pritam Singh said the party is not in position to contest the election. He said that the BJP enjoys an overwhelming majority in the state assembly so it would contest the election. The PCC president however added that the decision on the issue would be taken by the leader of Congress legislative party and leader of opposition (LoP) after a meeting of party leaders.
On the question of expected cabinet expansion in Uttarakhand, Singh said that the issue is an internal matter of the BJP. He opined that no MLA who has self pride would accept the ministerial berth at this juncture as virtually no time is actually left for the new minister to show his or her performance. Reacting on the recent issue in which the cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat was removed from the post of the chairman of Uttarakhand Building and other Construction workers Welfare Board, the PCC president said that it is another example of inherent division in the government.