Already faction-ridden Uttarakhand Congress has again landed in doldrums with its senior-most leader and former Chief Minister Harish Rawat obeying the directive of AICC in-charge Kumari Selja on paper but questioning its rationale, which clearly amounts to an expression of disenchantment.
The controversy erupted after Kumari Selja shot off a letter to Rawat on October 1 asking him to stop his proposed ‘Dhanyawad and Jansamvad Yatra’, stating that it had come to party’s notice that he is undertaking a yatra without discussing it either with her or PCC President Ganesh Godiyal, and that he had also made certain controversial statements recently. Selja underlined that with Assembly elections just months away in early 2027 the party must put up a united front and any parallel programme at this juncture will not be in party interest. The letter was also marked to AICC Organisation General Secretary K.C. Venugopal.
Though Rawat initially defied the directive and on October 5 went ahead with the Jaspur-Haldwani leg of the yatra in Udham Singh Nagar, writing on X that there is no stopping now and the resolve is firm for Uttarakhand’s pride, he later announced that his yatra was being misunderstood and therefore he is postponing next 8-10 rallies. Rawat disclosed that Selja has given him time to meet on October 7 at 7 PM in Delhi and that the party has every right to seek clarification. He also revealed that he had already apologised to Venugopal for a one-day programme.
But the 77-year-old Permanent Invitee to CWC, while submitting to discipline, put Congress in the dock. Rawat argued that his programmes are not weakening any party programme because no organised Congress programme is currently visible in the state. He said except for one-off demonstrations in some places, which he himself attends, there is no organised Jansampark Abhiyan in districts, blocks, villages and on roads. If there is no organised outreach, how does his yatra weaken party programmes, he questioned.
The high command has taken serious note of the defiance. Venugopal has summoned Rawat to Delhi on October 8 to coordinate his activities with the organisational framework and electoral strategy. For a Congress which was hoping to encash anti-incumbency against the BJP and pledged to form government in 2027, the open spat between its in-charge and tallest mass leader has once again exposed deep fault lines at a time when it wanted to project collective leadership.
It may be recalled that 77 year old veteran Congress leader had announced about his possible retirement from active politics earlier but then after some time retracted back saying that he wanted to contest from Haridwar where her daughter too is an MLA from Haridwar rural and therefore claimant for the ticket. Rawat is also promoting his son Anand who had contested from Haridwar in a parliamentary seat from Congress saying that he fully deserves to be accepted as a leader in the party. This time he too is a claimant for the MLA ticket obviously from Congress which clearly means that while the father opts for future CM again his two children are interested to be MLAs from Uttarakhand n thereafter as ministers un the state cabinet.
