Dehradun: Uttarakhand Congress chief Kishore Upadhyay on Friday asked 'disappointed' ticket aspirants within the party not to contest the state Assembly polls as Independents against party nominees and work unitedly for the party's victory.
Talking to reporters in Dehradun, Upadhyay said party leaders who had announced that they would contest as Independents should "drop the plan for the party's sake", and those who had already entered the fray should withdraw before it was too late.
Reminding them of the recent pledge they had taken at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's rally in Rishikesh that they will not oppose the official nominees of the party, let alone contesting against them, Upadhyay said, "After taking a pledge like that it becomes the duty of every Congress worker to throw all their might into ensuring the win of party's official candidates."
Breaking a vow is sinful, he said. Congress is grappling with rebellion from within the party in over half a dozen seats in the state, including Sahaspur, from where Upadhyay himself is the party's official nominee.
Party leader Aryendra Sharma, who was a strong contender for the seat, has entered the fray as an Independent from there after resigning from all party positions. When asked about Sharma's candidature, Upadhyay said he would appeal to him too to withdraw from the fray in favour of the party's official nominee.
"He (Sharma) should understand that when he was fielded by the party last time from the seat, some party workers must have been denied a ticket from there," the Congress state unit chief said.
Disappointed ticket seekers within the party have decided to contest as Independents from over half a dozen seats in the state including Sahaspur, Dehradun Cantt, Rudraprayag and Devprayag threatening to mar the party's poll prospects.
The hill state along with Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur and Goa goes to poll next month.
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