All not well in Uttarakhand Congress? MLAs skip leader of opposition event

DEHRADUN: Congress MLA from Bajpur, Yashpal Arya, assumed charge as Uttarakhand's leader of opposition on Monday. However, several party MLAs skipped the event just like around 11 of the 19 legislators didn't show up when Karan Mahara formally took charge as the new state party chief on Sunday.
While the state unit of the party has downplayed the absence of these MLAs, including that of senior legislators like Pritam Singh and Harish Dhami, saying they couldn't come due to other engagements, observers believe that discontent among Congress MLAs over recent appointments to the posts of leader of opposition, deputy leader of opposition and party chief -- is now playing out in the open.When queried about the absence of the MLAs from the event, Arya said, "The issue is being blown up unnecessarily. There are no differences among us."
Earlier this month, Congress had named Karan Mahara as the state chief, Yaspal Arya as the leader of opposition and Bhuvan Chand Kapri as deputy leader of opposition. Soon after the appointments, Harish Dhami, three-time MLA from Dharchula, who was being seen as a frontrunner for the post of leader of opposition, had said, “While assigning the three key posts, the party overlooked the fact that Uttarakhand has a high population of defence personnel -- both serving and retired -- and someone from military background should have been given at least one of the positions. Congress only has room for sycophants.”
On Monday, too, Dhami continued his offensive against the party saying, "I would not contest under the Congress banner in 2027 even if the party is in a winning position." Six-time Chakrata MLA Pritam Singh had also publicly expressed dismay over being "accused of factionalism".
Reacting to the situation, political experts said that Congress could be headed for another crisis soon if it’s unable to resolve the issues within the party.