By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 23 Oct: Even as the major parties, BJP and the Congress, are preparing for the Kedarnath byelection, differences between the top Congress leaders have again come to the fore. While the nomination process began on Tuesday for the bypoll, the observers appointed by the Congress leader in charge of party affairs in the state, Kumari Selja, submitted their report on the feedback regarding possible candidates to the Party High Command, directly, without involving the Pradesh Congress Committee and its chief, Karan Mahara. This indicates severe factionalism in the state unit of the party.
The party observers appointed by the party high command have sent a report regarding the byelection to the high command without the knowledge of the PCC Chief, Karan Mahara. Sources claim that Mahara is deeply anguished at the development but has refused to comment before the media.
The question also arises that, to date, in all election processes, the work of sending the panel to the high command has been done by the Congress official setup. Traditionally, no observer directly sends a panel to the high command as the responsibility of contesting elections in the state lies with the organisation, not with any observer. The panel of observers appointed by Kumari Selja is led by former PCC Chief Ganesh Godiyal, who seems to be in the good books of, both, Selja and former Chief Minister Harish Rawat. Karan Mahara, considered to be a protégé and relative of veteran Congress leader Harish Rawat, is currently not in the good books of his mentor Rawat. Both these leaders have openly differed with each other on a number of issues. Sources claim that, currently, Harish Rawat is strongly supporting Ganesh Godiyal in his clash with Karan Mahara. Perhaps, encouraged by the support Godiyal is getting from Harish Rawat as well as from Kumari Selja, he has chosen to bypass the PCC, submitting his report directly to the party high command. This raises the question whether leaders like Godiyal consider themselves bigger than the state organisation.
Sources claim that, while Godiyal is strongly in favour of declaring former MLA Manoj Rawat as the party candidate, which is also supported by Harish Rawat, Mahara is not in favour. He favours the candidature of Sheesh Pal Singh Bisht from Kedarnath. Given this dispute, Bisht has openly accused the party observers of having not conducted the survey in the constituency in a fair and transparent manner. He claimed that those appointed as observers by the party high command were openly lobbying for Manoj Rawat and, hence, they have bypassed the party’s state leadership in sending their report directly to the party high command.
It may be recalled that a meeting has been scheduled in Delhi regarding the Kedarnath byelection on 24 October, in which a final decision is likely regarding the party candidate. Sources stated that at least 8 to 10 contenders have left for Delhi to lobby for the party ticket.
The ‘arbitrary manner’ in which observers were appointed without taking the Pradesh Congress Committee into confidence has again brought to the fore the fissures within the party in the state. This is bound to have a negative impact on the election campaign for the Kedarnath byelection.
