By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 25 Jan: Uttarakhand Congress President Pritam Singh has finally announced his Pradesh Congress Committee. As had been indicated by Garhwal Post earlier too, it has turned out to be another jumbo sized PCC consisting of 245 members. It is worth remembering here that Pritam Singh had claimed that he would keep a small sized PCC, but in Congress it was almost impossible to do. However, the most important event in the Congress today was not the announcement of the new PCC but the alleged resignation of MLA Harish Dhami from the PCC.
Dhami allegedly announced his resignation from the newly announced PCC merely hours after the announcement. In fact, he was nominated as one of the 98 secretaries and his name figured at 98th number on the list of secretaries and this probably angered him. The new PCC totally bears the stamp of Pritam Singh and Indira Hridayesh. Harish Rawat camp is ignored in the new PCC. In fact, two former MLAs considered close to Harish Rawat, Dinesh Aggarwal and Heera Singh Bisht have been ignored in the new list.
The new PCC comprises of 245 names. 22 Vice Presidents have been nominated, 31 General Secretaries have been nominated while the number of secretaries has been kept at 98. Incidentally, Dhami’s name figures at 98th position in the list of Secretaries. Chartered Accountant and Congress leader Sunil Gulati has been nominated as Treasurer of the state unit of the party. Leader of the Opposition Indira Hridayesh, former CM Harish Rawat and his lieutenants QaziNizamuddin, Govind Singh Kunjwal, Manoj Rawat, Karan Mehta and Furqan Ahmed have been included in the PCC as Special Invitees, while another lieutenant Gulzar Ahmed has been included as Secretary at 97th position. Others in the Special invitees list include Prakash Joshi, Kishore Upadhyay, Surendra Singh Negi and TPS Rawat. Manish Khanduri, son of BJP leader BC Khanduri also figures in the special invitees list.
The new list has expectedly led to disenchantment in Harish Rawat camp. In fact, Dhami has gone to the extent of threatening to resign from the party. Party insiders claim that all this is happening under approval of Harish Rawat himself, who finds himself to be sidelined in the PCC.Harish Rawat’s confidante MayukhMahar finds his name among the 22 Vice Presidents. Others prominent faces include Rajendra Singh Bhandari, Aryendra Sharma, SK Dhasmana, Jot Singh Bist, Ganesh Godiyal, Vikram Singh Negi, VijaypalSajwan and Mahendra Pal.
Among the 31 General Secretaries, Harish Rawat’s son AnandRawat does find a place. While others include Vijay Saraswat, Manmohan Mall, Govind Singh Bist, HemeshKharkwal, LalitFarswan and Prof Jeetram. Most of the General Secretaries and Vice Presidents are considered to be lightweight in the party.
The new PCC is bound to result in dissidence, claim the party insiders.
