Grand old party in a dilemma over choice of face ahead of elections.
New Delhi: There is no end in sight to the problems of the Congress high command. With the episode involving Navjot Singh Sidhu already creating trouble for the party in Punjab, the crisis in another poll-bound state Uttarakhand has assumed much larger proportions.
The biggest problem in the hill state is about who should be projected as a main face for the upcoming Assembly elections. The only senior leader among others is former Chief Minister Harish Rawat. He has been currying favour with the leadership for the top responsibility, but the high command has not given him an audience in this regard.
Now, his health issues have come up. It is said that post-Covid problems have affected his health. He is said to have been admitted in AIIMS once again after Covid recovery. The high command may still zero in on Rawat for being projected as the face of the Congress, but the BJP’s decisions added to the dilemma of the grand old party.
What BJP did was that it gave importance to the Kumaon division, ignoring the Garhwal division. After the appointment of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami who hails from the Kumaon region, Ajay Bhatt was inducted into the Cabinet. Bhatt also belongs to the Kumaon division. This is the first time that the Garhwal division has been ignored ever since the creation of Uttarakhand. This, despite the fact that Garhwal accounts for 41 of the total 70 Assembly seats of the state. The BJP has given Congress a political issue, but the grand old party is itself in a fix over which leader from Garhwal region it should bring up before making it an issue.
All the important leaders from this region have already joined the BJP. Former state Congress president Kishore Upadhyaya and present party chief Pritam Singh are the only leaders from Garhwal. Now, if Harish Rawat is made the party face, then it will divest the Congress of the issue of Garhwal being neglected by the BJP, as the former CM belongs to the Kumaon division itself. Secondly, Harish Rawat is against Pritam Singh and Kishore Upadhyaya. He wants one of his supporters to be the party president in Uttarakhand. The high command is unable to take a decision on the post of CLP leader due to this tussle. This post is lying vacant after the death of Indira Hridayesh. Hence, Uttarakhand is giving the high command sleepless nights like Punjab.
As regards Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is unable to do anything to solve the problem. At the same time, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra do not want to take any action against Navjot Singh Sidhu whose action amounts to indiscipline in the party. The Gandhis think that it is Sidhu who speaks openly against PM Narendra Modi. Randeep Singh Surjewala is the second such leader who targets the PM. Rahul Gandhi does not seem to agree that Sidhu’s actions have dented the party’s image.