Former Cong MLAs pressure CM for govt posts

SMA Kazmi

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 21

Chief Minister Harish Rawat is again under pressure from Congress leaders for allocating government positions in various boards, corporations and other government bodies. This time, former Congress legislators have staked their claims to these posts. A delegation of former Congress legislators met the Chief Minister and demanded that they should be given responsibilities in order to strengthen the party ahead of the Assembly elections in 2017.

These legislators have also formed an association with Jot Singh Gunsola, a former legislator from Mussoorie, as its president.

The Chief Minister assured the delegation, which was led by state Congress president Kishore Upadhyay, of looking into their demands. However, he told the former legislators to work for the common people in their respective areas as this was their main responsibility. The former legislators complained to the Chief Minister that they were being ignored by ministers belonging to the seven-member PDF. The Chief Minister said the allies had been told to take senior party functionaries and former legislators in confidence regarding developmental works in their areas. The former legislators also complained that the present arrangement would be detrimental to the interests of the Congress in the next Assembly elections.

Interestingly, though the Chief Minister has made announcements several times and given deadlines to the party hopefuls, he has been hesitant in allocating a large number of positions in government bodies to party leaders. The Chief Minister has been delaying the decision as he realises that such a move will not only burden the state exchequer but will also be seen as anti-people. However, he has given these positions to his favourites and staunch supporters.

Since the inception of Uttarakhand, the issue of allocation of posts to ruling party leaders and workers had agitated the minds of the common people and remained an explosive political issue. The trend was started in 2002 by the first elected Congress government led by veteran ND Tewari, who gave these posts to hundreds of party workers, leaders and even to his acquaintances from outside the state. The people who enjoyed these positions became a major embarrassment for the Congress government.

The BJP politically exploited the issue during the Assembly elections in 2007 and formed the government. The BJP government was not far behind in giving such positions. It had to pay a price in the 2012 Assemby elections. After the Congress formed the government in 2012, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna was cautious in allocating such posts but finally gave these to party legislators and leaders.

After Harish Rawat took over as Chief Minister in February 2014, he was against giving any such posts. He gave a few positions to his favourites but avoided giving a large number of such posts. However, there was pressure on him from his own supporters and those from rival groups in the state Congress for such positions. The Chief Minister delayed a decision on one pretext or other in the past 10 months. There was a talk of such a move after his visit to New Delhi last week but nothing has come out so far. The issue of the formation of a new team of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) after the appointment of Kishore Upadhyay has also been hanging fire.