CM change, 'admission of Govt.'s failure'

By Our Staff Correspondent

DEHRA DUN, OCT. 27. The main Opposition parties here in Uttaranchal - the Congress (I) and the Samajwadi Party - have described the BJP central leadership's decision to replace the Uttaranchal Chief Minister, Mr. Nityanand Swami, on the eve of elections to the State Assembly as an acknowledgement by the party that its government had failed miserably in the State and it was willing to risk a Delhi-type debacle rather than continue with the daily bickerings from within its Uttaranchal unit.

For the State Congress unit president, Mr. Harish Rawat, the decision to replace Mr. Swami on the seventh attempt by dissidents within the ruling BJP indicated that there was no alternative in the party. ' The Congress is talking of a 'change of fate' for which it will crusade through 'Parivartan Yatras' next month - this has been sought to be countered with a 'change of face' by the BJP', he said.

Mr. Harish Rawat added that the way the Chief Minister was being changed showed that the BJP, which had no socio-economic policy, was also bankrupt as far as providing political stability was concerned. The BJP has 23 MLAs in a House of 30. The Congress hopes to cash in on the BJP's predicament through mass mobilisation at it's Parivartan Yatras, two of which - at Uttarkashi and Pithoragarh- are likely to be addressed by Ms. Sonia Gandhi.

Although a strong critic of Mr. Swami, the president of the Uttaranchal unit of the Samajwadi Party, Mr. Vinod Barthwal, said that politics apart, the BJP had no better man than Mr. Nityanand Swami to deal deftly with all section of the State. `` Now that a new Chief Minister will come, the gut feeling that the RSS will take over the State before the elections has come true', he said.

The Uttaranchal Finance Minister, Dr. Ramesh Pokriyal 'Nishank', a keen contender for the top job, said he would accept any decision of the high command. '' I am not in the fray for now and would work in the party's interest``, he said.

Mr. Bhagat Singh Koshiary, the Uttaranchal Power Minister and another strong contender, said that although the high command's verdict would be final, the inner feeling of the MLAs that the leader should be from amongst them should be given adequate consideration.

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Section  : Other States
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