CONGRESS NOTICE fOR RS DEBATE ON UTTARAkHAND

Congress members in Rajya Sabha on Saturday gave notices in the House for the suspension of Question Hour and starting discussions on the continuing political turmoil in Uttarakhand. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabhi Azad and Deputy Leader of Congress in the House Anand Sharma sought in separate notices for adoption of a resolution in Rajya Sabha for condemning the imposition of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand. The notices given by Azad and Sharma aimed at targeting the government on allegations of being responsible for “destabilising” a democratically-elected government in the state. Anand Sharma, in his notice filed in the House under rule 267, sought from Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari the passage of the resolution. Sharma sought that the resolution be adopted condemning the Narendra Modi-led government for the political crisis in Uttarakhand and the ultimate imposition of President’s Rule. The resolution states “This House deplores the destabilisation of the democratically elected government in Uttarakhand and disapproves the unjustified imposition of President’s Rule there under Article 356 of the Constitution”. Since President’s Rule was imposed in the state, Congress has kept up its attack on the BJP government on the matter. Earlier, it had also started mobilisation campaigns like “Save Democracy, Save Uttarakhand”.

The Congress is not expected to do well in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, said an initial assessment by election strategist Prashant Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), which has taken over the task to revive the grand old party’s fortunes in the two states.

Young technocrats and fresh graduates who have been recruited in I-PAC and are now camping in Punjab, where Congress has been out of power for the past 10 years, have said that the party has a tough task in the state and with an energetic Aam