HEADLINES QUOTE UNQUOTE YEH HAI INDIA PIC OF THE DAY POLL ARCHIVES FEEDBACK SEARCH REDIFF
NEWSLINKS US EDITION NEWS DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ARCHIVES Special Offer To your parents' health
A day after senior Congress leader N D Tiwari was nominated as Uttaranchal Congress Legislative Party leader, protest demonstrations were held in parts of the state and a number of party workers and leaders resigned in protest, Congress party sources said.
At least 16 newly elected Members of Legislative Assembly led by Hira Singh Bisht, a legislator from Rajpur, on Thursday met Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi asking her to reconsider the decision to nominate Tiwari as the new CLP leader, the sources said.
However, Gandhi told the MLAs that the decision could not be revoked.
The latest move by these MLAs is being seen as significant in view of widespread demonstrations on Thursday evening, when Congress workers burnt effigies of Tiwari and blocked traffic outside the party headquarters.
In Almora district, a number of party leaders, including state disciplinary committee chief Puran Singh Mahra, state election coordinator D N Badola and district general secretary Agastlal Shah resigned to protest Gandhi's decision.
In their resignation letters these leaders said, "The party high command is giving reins of Uttaranchal to a man (Tiwari) who had vehemently opposed the creation of the state when he was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh."
Meanwhile, the swearing-in ceremony of the new ministry has been deferred amid reports of protest coming from several areas of the state.
