Factional fight in Congress intensifies with expulsion of Harish Rawat loyalists

| | Dehradun
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Factional fight in Congress intensifies with expulsion of Harish Rawat loyalists

Wednesday, 12 December 2018 | PNS | Dehradun

The expulsion of Harish Rawat loyalists from Congress has exacerbated factional feud in the State unit of Congress. 

The deputy leader of the Congress legislature party in Vidhan Sabha and Ranikhet MLA, Karan Mahra convened a press conference in Haldwani on Tuesday and termed the expulsion of the former general secretary of the State party Khajan Pandey and president of Nainital Nagar Congress Committee Maruti Shah as a wrong and ill-conceived move.  Without naming the State party president Pritam Singh and the leader of the opposition Indira Hridayesh who are believed to be instrumental behind the expulsion , Mahra said that the move had been initiated at the behest of some senior party leaders.

He questioned the move and said that the disciplinary committee has expelled some old and loyal leaders without serving them show cause notice.

Hinting that they would not take things lying down, Mahra said that the issue would be raised during the meeting of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) slated on December 16. He also questioned as to why no action has been taken against those who are giving statements against the former Chief Minister and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Harish Rawat.

Meanwhile in Dehradun, the State Congress chief Pritam Singh defended the expulsion move. 

Quizzed by The Pioneer on the matter, he said that these leaders had worked against the official candidates of the party in the urban local body election.

He said that Maruti Shah and Khajan Pandey had  openly worked to spite the chances of the  official party candidates. “Such acts of indiscipline cannot be tolerated in the party,” he said.

The disciplinary committee of the State Congress had expelled on Monday Maruti Shah, president of Congress Sewa Dal Chamoli, Sanjay Rawat, district president of Scheduled Caste forum Rudraprayag, Kunwar Lal Arya and former Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Khajan Pandey for a period of six years.

Most of these leaders are said to be the camp followers of Congress stalwart Harish Rawat.

Observers say that such drastic expulsion of the Harish Rawat loyalists at a time when the party must start preparing to face the heat of the 2019 general election would not augur well for the opposition party. “Another bout of fierce factional bickering is set to start during PCC meeting slated on December 16.

With the crucial election coming, none of the two factions is likely to yield ground to the other. The showdown is thus poised to turn fiercer in the run-up to the next year’s general election and if it happens it would help the BJP substantially at the high-stake hustings,” an observer said.

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