Opp to protest proposed chardham board, not holding session in Gairsain in U'khand Assembly

The week-long Winter Session of the Uttarakhand Assembly beginning Wednesday is likely to be stormy with the Congress gearing up to corner the government on a host of issues, including the proposed constitution of a chardham shrine board and not organising the session in Gairsain.

Former chief minister and AICC general secretary Harish Rawat said he will stage a dharna at Gairsain on Wednesday in protest against the state government's failure to hold an assembly session there due to cold.

"Uttarakhand and cold are inseparable. I want the Chief Minister to regret and withdraw his remark about Gairsain being extremely cold," the Congress leader said.

He said if the Uttarakhand leaders would run away from cold "what will happen to our plans to promote winter tourism in the state".

He was reacting to Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat's remark that the Winter Session could not be held in Gairsain as it does not have the kind of infrastructure needed to guard against bitter cold prevailing in high altitude areas.

The previous Congress government had built a state assembly in Gairsain and decided to hold at least one session there every year. It is for the first time since 2014 that not a single session was organised there.

Gairsain is an emotive issue in Uttarakhand with the hill people who fought for statehood having been in favour of the remote hill town being made its permanent capital.

Harish Rawat also threatened to stage a token fast cum dharna in front of the state assembly in Dehradun on Thursday against non-payment of arrears to sugar cane growers saying, "Gairsain and ganna (sugarcane) are issues close to my heart."