New Delhi, (Samajweekly) A day after party veteran and Uttarakhand campaign committee chief Harish Rawat targeted the Congress for not giving him a “free hand”, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday spoke to the former Union Minister to pacify him, sources said.
On Wednesday, in a series of tweets, Rawat had said that “it’s time to rest, it has been enough.”
“Is this not strange? When we have to swim in the sea of election, the party organisation should extend supporting hand, but has rather turned its face the other way and is playing a negative role. I have to swim in the sea where the ruling party has released many crocodiles and my hands and legs are tied.
“Sometimes it feels that I have worked too much and now it’s time to rest. I am in dilemma, the new year may show me a way, and Lord Kedarnath will show a path to me,” the former Uttarakahd Chief Minister said.
According to sources in the know of things, Rawat is upset over the ticket distribution and that he wants more say in the party affairs.
The Congress has not declared Rawat as the chief ministerial candidate which is the prime demand of his supporters.
Rawat is scheduled to meet former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday.
Meanwhile, some leaders — Pradeep Tamta, Rajya Sabha MP, and Harish Dhami, an MLA, have come out in Rawat’s support.
The Uttarakhand Congress is mired with groupism with Preetam Singh leading a group while former state unit president Kishore Upadhyay has his own group, apart from the Rawat camp.
Rawat, however, has maintained silence since posting the tweets on Wednesday.
The anti-Rawat camp led by Preetam Singh and Upadhyay has told the party leadership not to announce a CM face prior to the polls, and this has upset Rawat who wants a fair share in the ticket distribution.
Sources said that the state leaders have been called to Delhi .
Uttarakhand Congress president Ganesh Gondiyal, Preetam Singh, CLP leader, and others will meet Devender Yadav, the state in-charge to apprise him about the affairs of the party.
Rawat was the in-charge of the party’s Punjab affairs when Amarinder Singh was removed from the position of Chief Minister.
His new barb is expected to create trouble for the party in Uttarakhand as it does not have a face apart from Rawat who has a pan-state presence, after the demise of Narayan Datt Tiwari and Indira Hridayesh.
