Cong plans to hold march against BJP govt
DEHRADUN: The Congress state unit will hold a foot march in Gairsain in Chamoli district to protest the state government’s “negligence” towards the summer capital during the two-day state assembly session to be held there from November 29-30.
The rally will be led by party senior leaders such as national general secretary and former chief minister Harish Rawat and party state president Ganesh Godiyal. Rawat, while addressing a press conference at party state headquarters here on Monday, accused the BJP government of “doing nothing for the development of Gairsain” after declaring it as the summer capital during the budget session last year by then chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.
“The BJP government has been neglecting Gairsain after declaring it the summer capital of Uttarakhand. They did nothing for its development after the announcement made more than a year ago. Our rally will be against the government for its negligence on Gairsain on which it has always been befooling the people of state,” said Rawat, who is also the president of Congress election campaign committee.
Attacking the BJP led government on the issue, he said, “We want to know from the government that has it carried even a single new construction project in Gairsain which still has the buildings constructed by our government before 2017.”
“After the declaration of the hill town as the summer capital, the government has announced a fund of ₹25,000cr for the infrastructure development in Gairsain. Where is that money gone along with ₹57cr given by this government for the construction of a new secretariat building and 500 residences for the staff?” said Rawat. Godiyal too lashed out at the government by saying: “No bureaucrat or minister spent even a single day in Gairsain after it was declared as the summer capital.” “As per our information, the CM held no meeting or spend a day there during the summer season. Nor did the bureaucrats including chief secretary and the principal secretaries of state there. This just proves that the announcement of the summer capital was just an eyewash for the innocent people of the state ahead of the election,” said Godiyal. ”
“Considering the background of the BJP on the Gairsain issue in which they have been always befooling people, the upcoming two-day assembly session is also a part of the same befooling tactic.”
Rawat said if voted to power in 2022, the Congress will “develop the basic infrastructure in Gairsain in 2-3 years and then declare it the state capital”.
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, while countering the Congress over Gairsain issue, asked them “not to worry about the summer capital.”
“The hill town of Gairsain was declared the summer capital by our government. We will take all necessary steps for its development as we were the one to make the announcement. The Congress need not to worry about it,” he said.
Earlier, the Congress accused the BJP of misusing power by forcing them to postpone their scheduled major political event in Haldwani on November 10.
The Congress had planned to hold a big rally in Haldwani on November 10 to welcome former minister and senior leader Yashpal Arya and his MLA son Sanjiv Arya who had rejoined the Congress last month.
Godiyal said, “As our event was a pre-planned one, we had also booked the parking space of the venue. But the district administration forced us to leave the parking space booked for the CM event. This is nothing but gross misuse of power by the BJP.”
“As the election will near, there will be many such occasions when both the parties may have their event on the same day and same place. But in such case, the BJP which is in power should uphold their democratic duty by giving the Opposition a fair chance to express their opinion with proper freedom,” he said.