Two Uttarakhand PCC members quit to make way for ‘seniors who were left out’

Earlier, in his letter to the state Congress president, Abhishek had requested the party to accommodate a senior leader in his place. He, however, assured that he will continue to serve the party.

The new list of PCC members was issued earlier this month. In April this year, a month after the Congress was handed a defeat by the BJP in the Assembly elections, the party had appointed Karan Mahara, a two-time MLA from the Ranikhet seat, as the new PCC president, replacing Ganesh Godiyal. Bajpur MLA Yashpal Arya, who returned to the party just before the elections, was appointed as the new CLP leader, replacing Pritam Singh.

In his letter addressed to Mahara, Abhishek thanked the state chief for appointing him a PCC member, but also mentioned that several senior leaders with a “mass base” did not get a place in the committee. “This is causing anger among the Congress members. To make sure there is no harm to the Congress family in the future, I am resigning as a member of the PCC. I request you to nominate any senior party member in my place. I assure that just like my grandfather Late Gulab Singh and father Pritam Singh, I would continue to work to strengthen the Congress as a party worker,” he said in the letter.

Meanwhile, submitting his resignation, Mayukh Mahar said he didn’t have any complaints, but appointing the MLAs as PCC members ignoring other party workers was not right, while citing party’s ‘one person, one post’ formula. “Whenever a new person gets a post in the party, the person adds four more people,” he said.

Reacting to the resignation of Mayukh, party leader Pritam Singh, who represents Chakrata seat in the Assembly and was the PCC president from 2017-21, said those who could not be accommodated in the PCC will come together and strengthen the party.

“I want to make it clear that Mayukh Mahar-ji is our very strong ally and imagining the Congress without him in Pithoragarh is hard. It is the right of the state president and state in-charge as to whom they want to include in the PCC. They might have prepared a blueprint keeping in mind the 2024 elections and the possible candidates. Let us wait. The Congress will contest the elections with all its strength. I myself am not a member of the PCC, but all of us those who could not be a member will come together and work to strengthen the party,” said Pritam.