Sonia appoints Karan Mahara as Uttarakhand Congress chief; Yashpal Arya as Leader of Opposition

Congress working president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday appointed Karan Mehara as the new state president of Uttarakhand Congress and Yashpal Arya the Leader of Opposition. Both Arya and Kapri are influential new additions to Congress' top ranks in the hill state, and face twin tasks of reviving party organisation as well as taking BJP head on, writes Amit Agnihotri for ETV Bharat.

Dehradun:The Congress on Sunday unveiled its new team-- Karan Mahara as the new state head and Yashpal Arya as leader of the opposition—to take on the BJP in Uttarakhand. Additionally, the party named Bhuwan Chandra Kapri, who defeated chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, as the deputy CLP leader. Party chief Sonia Gandhi approved the new team on Sunday after detailed consultations with the AICC and state leaders.

Ideally, the decision should have been before the first session of the Uttarakhand Assembly opened after the recently concluded polls on March 29 but it took the party 12 more days to finalize the list. Mahara, 48, is a second term MLA from Ranikhet while Arya is a veteran of the game in the hill state and is serving his seventh term as lawmaker from Bazpur. Kapri, who represents Khatima in the assembly, is also a working president of the Uttarakhand Congress. He shot into fame recently for defeating chief minister Dhami, who was given a second term by the BJP top leadership despite the poll defeat.

The Congress had unveiled a new team headed by Ganesh Godiyal last year but it could not dislodge the BJP, which was able to beat anti-incumbency. Following a post-poll review, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi had asked state unit chief Ganesh Godiyal to resign but took a bit longer to appoint his successor. Now, the new team faces the twin challenges of reviving the Congress in the hill state while taking on the BJP.

For this reason, Yashpal Arya, who was a minister in the previous Dhami government, has been given the responsibility to play an aggressive opposition inside the Assembly. Arya, a prominent Dalit leader, had left the BJP to join the Congress along with his son Sanjeev Arya in October last year. The move had been seen as a major setback for the state BJP which had been in a disarray and had been forced to change three chief ministers in five years—Trivendra Singh Rawat, Tirath Singh Rawat and Pushkar Singh Dhami.

“I will highlight the failures of the BJP government and raise people’s issues with full force along with my colleagues,” Arya, who will be the leader of the opposition in the Assembly, said. The Congress was hopeful of wresting power from the BJP but the opposition party could only increase its tally from 11 MLAs in 2017 to 19 this time around. Infighting, a weak organization and voter dis-connect limited the chances of the Congress while faulty ticket distribution in around five-six seats added to its losses.

In fact, Godiyal was appointed to the post only last year as he was seen to be a neutral player. Former chief minister Harish Rawat, who was instrumental in installing Godiyal, too lost the polls from Lalkuan. Before the elections, Rawat had expressed his displeasure publicly over non-cooperation from the state leaders. Later, Rahul Gandhi had summoned the warring state leaders to Delhi and sorted out their differences. He endorsed the new team as well.