New Delhi: On the day the first session of the Uttarakhand Assembly began after the recently concluded state assembly polls, the Congress was still debating who should lead the party in the House and in the state.
Sources said that the party is deliberating whether to retain senior leader Pritam Singh as the new Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader or accommodate others like Rajendra Bhandari, Vikram Negi and Yashpal Arya. “It is sad, we should have been able to decide the name of the new legislative party leader before the session,” a senior AICC functionary told ETV Bharat on condition of anonymity.
The Congress was hopeful of staging a comeback in the hill state as the ruling BJP had been in a disarray and was forced to change three chief ministers over the past five years. Yet, infighting, a weak organization and voter dis-connect cost the grand old party dearly. Further, ticket distribution of around five to six seats was faulty as well. The only silver lining for the party was that it was able to increase the number of its MLAs from 11 in 2017 to 19 this time around.
Ideally, the party should have been able to decide the name of the new Congress Legislative Party leader by now. However, the lack of a CLP leader is not the only problem plaguing the party right now. The party also needs to choose a new state unit chief. Following a post-poll review of the party's defeat in the state assembly election, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi had asked state unit chief Ganesh Godiyal, who was appointed to the post only last year, to resign. Godiyal was seen as a neutral player who spent most of his time balancing power equations between the various factions in the state unit.
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According to sources, the name of Bhuwan Kapri, who defeated chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, is being considered for the role of the new state unit chief. Sources said both the key posts could be divided amongst the new lawmakers to balance caste equations. Former AICC Secretary, Prakash Joshi, who headed the Election Management Committee in Uttarakhand, said, "Before the polls, all the state leaders were hopeful of returning to power but the results were against our expectations. Now, I hope the high command will decide the two key appointments keeping in mind only the party's long-term interests in the state."
Former chief minister Harish Rawat, who was instrumental in installing Godiyal, continues to be the most well-known face of the Congress. The party recently expelled state vice-president Aqeel Ahmed for six years over indiscipline but many within the party felt the move should have come much earlier. Aqeel had blamed Rawat for the poll loss. Over the coming months, the party would have to focus on strengthening the booth-level teams and spend more time amongst the voters, sources said.
