Cong yet to announce its election steering committee in U’khand
By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 1 Apr: With just around 16 days left for election campaigning to end in Uttarakhand, Congress appears to be clearly lagging behind its chief rival the BJP in election campaigning, Congress’s campaign is yet to gather due momentum and the party candidates appear to be left to fend for themselves. There is no coordinated monitoring or direction being provided to the party candidates at the level of the State and the Central leadership of the party so far.
So much so that the party is yet to finalise and announce its election steering committee and also yet to announce its list of star campaigners who will be campaigning for the party in Uttarakhand over next 16 days. Sources in Congress claim that the party candidates and their supporters are demanding inclusion of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi apart from Party President Mallikarjun Kharge, Sachin Pilot, KC Venugopal, Salman Khurshid as the star campaigners for the state. The problem is that at the state level even the most senior party leaders like Harish Rawat are busy in only one or two constituencies with only the PCC Chief Karan Mahara travelling across the state to campaign. On the other hand, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, BJP State President, Cabinet Ministers Satpal Mahraj, Subodh Uniyal, Dhan Singh Rawat, Ganesh Joshi and Prem Chand Aggarwal are busy campaigning vigorously in support of the party candidates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also arriving tomorrow in Rudrapur to address a mega rally.
Among the candidates of Congress party, the party candidate Virender Rawat along with his father and veteran Congress leader Harish Rawat are vigorously campaigning in the Haridwar Parliamentary constituency. Though Ganesh Godiyal, Jot Singh Gunsola, Pradeep Tamta and Prakash Joshi have also hit the campaign trail but their campaign is yet to gather due momentum and pace.
At the same time, Harish Rawat today targeted BJP for giving tickets to many celebrities. He says that BJP has made a mockery of parliamentary democracy by fielding celebrities in the elections for glamour. Rawat and his son Virender Rawat, today inaugurated the Congress election office in Shivalik Nagar, Haridwa. Virender Rawat said that Congress has given him an opportunity to serve Haridwar. Now the public will have to decide whether they want a government with corruption and inflation or give a free opportunity to two pairs of bulls (Harish Rawat and Virender Rawat) to serve in Haridwar. Virender Rawat said that the people of Haridwar have been given a very good package by the Congress. Rawat claimed that with the kind of support he is getting from the people of Haridwar, he has full confidence that the people want change.
Congress candidate from Tehri Garhwal Lok Sabha, Jot Singh Gunsola, campaigned in Kalsi Haripur, Chakrata, Koti Kanasar Tyuni today and he was accompanied in several places by senior Congress leader Pritam Singh. At the same time, Nainital Lok Sabha candidate Prakash Joshi inaugurated the election office in Lalkuan today and claimed that the Congress will win the Nainital seat. He claimed that Congress government will be formed in the country.
