Battle lines drawn in Cong after Harish Rawat takes 15-day break

Dehradun: Barely a few months before the 2027 assembly polls, differences among some of the Congress leaders in Uttarakhand have emerged on the surface. The issue started with the recent joining of six prominent politicians in the party fold. Sources maintained that ex-CM Harish Rawat was keen on getting Sanjay Negi – a politician from Ramnagar – join the party on the same day.However, after some opposition from other seniors, the joining did not take place and Harish announced a "15-day political break", and called it the "first instalment of break in 60-year political journey".Ramnagar constituency was a bone of contention between Harish and Ranjeet Rawat and eventually both were not given Congress tickets from the seat. While BJP won the seat in 2022, Congress candidate came second. Negi contested as an Independent and came third with 16,843 votes.While a section of party members have opposed the induction of Negi, another group has backed Harish. A statement given by ex-minister Harak Singh Rawat added fuel to fire as he said that, "no one should be under the misconception that the party cannot win with him. A political party does not end if a person is there or not."Upset over the statement, three time-MLA from Dharchula, Harish Dhami, in a social media post reminded people of the 2016 episode -- in which several Congress MLAs had left the party – and all supporters of Harish needed to go for mass resignation.Harish Dhami in his social media post wrote, "Harak Singh Rawat's statement is condemnable. He had tried to destabilise the 2016 Congress govt by joining BJP. Party high command should remember that a person who has done such an act can repeat it."Other party seniors like Ganesh Godiyal, Govind Kunjwal and Sanjay Negi have joined the ongoing verbal tussle.Meanwhile, state BJP chief Mahendra Bhatt said, "Differences among state Congress top brass has yet again come before the people of Uttarakhand. The present situation in the Congress is an outcome of the decisions taken earlier by Harish Rawat."