DEHRADUN: A meeting between Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and former leader of opposition in the state Assembly Pritam Singh has triggered the speculation of the Congress leader switching his allegiance to the ruling BJP in the near future.
The meeting that took place at the chief minister's residence late on Sunday night assumed significance as it came close on the heels of the Congress revamping its state unit in which Singh, a five-time MLA from Chakrata, was apparently sidelined by the party leadership.
However, when contacted, Singh dismissed the speculation.
Singh, who has held key positions like that of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president from 2017 to 2021 and the leader of opposition in the Assembly after the death of Indira Hridayesh last year, has not been assigned any major organisational responsibility in the latest revamp of the party's state unit.
Karan Mahra, who is said to be close to former chief minister and Singh's bete noire Harish Rawat, has been made the PCC chief, senior party leader and Bajpur MLA Yashpal Arya has been appointed as the leader of opposition and Bhuwan Chandra Kapri, who defeated Dhami in the recently-held state Assembly polls from Khatima, is the deputy leader of opposition.
Arya has held the posts of PCC president in the past. He is also a former speaker of the Assembly.
The Uttarakhand Congress has long been divided into two factions -- one led by Rawat and the other by Singh.
As the Congress looks for factors that may have led to its failure to wrest power from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttarakhand, factionalism has emerged as a possible reason why its performance fell far short of the expectations.
Congress's poll observers Avinash Pandey and Devender Yadav prepared a report recently, attributing the party's poll debacle in Uttarakhand to differences among its state leaders.
Singh expressed his hurt on being accused of factionalism in the report, but refused to say anything on his meeting with the chief minister.