)
The Congress high command's green signal for ministerial-rank appointments might well become a bane for Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat.
The party, already divided in the hill state, has started seeing growing discontent over who will be appointed and when.
Ambika Soni, the Congress general secretary and incharge of the party affairs in the state, had said the chief minister should distribute ministerial-rank posts among party leaders before November 30. However, Congress sources said Rawat will announce the appointments only after the November 20 election for the lone Rajya Sabha seat. While scores of politicians have been demanding they be given a post, Rawat reportedly wants leaders with clean image. "If we have to perform well in the 2017 Assembly elections, we must honour our party leaders with clean image and give them some posts," said a top Congress leader.
Interestingly, former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna had distributed ministerial-rank posts to loyalists such as Vivekanand Khanduri and Dhirendra Pratap a couple of days before the change of guard on February 1 this year.
Unlike in the previous BJP governments, where more than 100 such appointments were made, Rawat is likely to keep the number below 100 in view of the burgeoning non-Plan expenditure and also to follow the objectives of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management (FRBM) Act, officials said.
Soni has also called for the constitution of the Pradesh Congress Committee before November 20. This is considered an arduous task before state Congress chief Kishore Upadhyaya, as the party is divided.
Rawat has also promised all the mayors and district panchayat chiefs that their status will be elevated to ministerial-ranks. "The CM can not distribute ministerial-rank posts in bulk. This will put unnecessary burden on the state exchequer," said leader of the Opposition Ajay Bhatt.
