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The prolonged suspense over the fate of the ruling Congress and the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) combine in Uttarakhand has finally come to an end, with Chief Minister Harish Rawat saying the alliance with the seven-member conglomerate remains intact.
After conclusion of a two-day meeting of the party's state unit chaired by All India Congress Committee incharge of party affairs in the state, Ambika Soni on Sunday, Rawat said, "PDF remains an integral part of the government despite efforts by a section of partymen to break the combine."
Rawat also said only a negligible minority within the party's state unit were in favour of breaking the alliance. Rawat's stand on the Congress-PDF alliance was endorsed by former Party chief Yashpal Arya, who said the front had stood by the party through thick and thin. "We got support of the seven PDF legislators when we needed it to form the government in Uttarakhand. We should respect this," he said.
The party had failed to muster a majority in the 2012 assembly elections and existed on the prop of the seven-member PDF.
However, ever since the Congress's own tally in the 70-member Assembly rose from 32 to 35 after the Assembly by-polls held in Uttarakhand last year and it no longer depended as heavily on the support of 7-member PDF as earlier for survival, isolated voices from within party ranks were heard from time to time demanding that PDF members in Rawat Cabinet be replaced by Congress' own MLAs.
However, whenever the issue was raised by a section of partymen, Chief Minister himself always said the alliance with the PDF would remain unaffected.
