Kunjwal mollified as party leadership reinstates district chief

Jageshwar MLA and former Vidhan Sabha Speaker Gobind Singh Kunjwal said that though he had earlier announced his resignation from the Congress and his membership of the legislative assembly, the issue has now been resolved.

Addressing the media at a local hotel here, he said that he had been hurt at selection of the district and Mahanagar party chiefs on August 5. He said that the there were imbalances in the list issued earlier by the Pradesh Congress Committee. He said that even his opinion was not sought for selection of the district chief in his area. Miffed at this, he had written to the party State-in-charge and announced his decision to resign from the party and membership of the legislative assembly earlier this month.

He stressed that it was not in his nature to tolerate unfair actions which is why during his term as the Assembly speaker he had pointed out errors of the Congress Government under then Chief Ministers Vijay Bahuguna and Harish Rawat too. Regarding the recent developments, he alleged that a conspiracy had been hatched to remove the previous district head of the party to fuel factionalism in Jageshwar constituency and negatively affect his political standing. Siding with the former district head of the Congress, Pitamber Pandey, he presented copies of the Congress State-in-charge Anugrah Narayan Singh's letter to the Pradesh Congress Committee president Pritam Singh’s to the media persons. In the letter, the party State-in- charge has stated that till a decision is taken afresh on the issue, the Almora district Congress chief will continue on the post as before. Kunjwal said that with Pandey being reinstated to the post, the dispute is now resolved. He expressed gratitude to the party’s State and central leadership.