Uttarakhand: Local body polls expose rift between top Congress leaders

By Ankit Sharma  |  First Published Nov 23, 2018, 7:16 PM IST

Former Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal attributed the party's poor show to the wrong assigning of responsibilities to the rank and file. He said if a popular leader like former chief minister Rawat, a star campaigner, had reached out to the entire state, the party would have got more traction than the BJP

After the below-average performance by the Congress in the local body elections, infighting within the party has only intensified as Congress state president Pritam Singh has blamed former chief minister and senior leader of Congress Harish Rawat for not providing sufficient time to campaign for candidates at the municipal wards. 

However, Rawat has debunked the claims stating that the election strategy was not discussed with him.
 
Former Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal attributed the party's poor show to the wrong assigning of responsibilities to the rank and file. He said if a popular leader like former chief minister Rawat, a star campaigner, had reached out to the entire state, the party would have got more traction than the BJP.

Former Congress president Kishore Upadhyay has expressed his disappointment with the party's apathy towards him. He said, despite being the speaker of the parliamentary board, ticket distribution (nominations of candidates) was not a part of his role. 

This infighting in the local Congress has turned ugly as top leaders have begun a blame game against one another publicly rather than preparing for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and analysing the performance in the recent elections. 

Congress workers are dissatisfied with the distribution of tickets as several rebels were reportedly against the prejudice shown by party leaders during the process, after which most of them were asked to leave. The party has now making efforts to woo the independent winners with the hope they would join the Congress

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