Party infighting greets Amit Shah as he lands in Uttarakhand

On the first day of his two-day tour of Uttarakhand, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah was apprised of the incidents of infighting among senior party leaders by state tourism minister Satpal Maharaj, during a meeting of senior party functionaries on Wednesday.

Arriving in Dehradun, Shah was given a warm welcome by the state BJP government. However, during an interaction with senior party functionaries, Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj raised the unpleasant issue of dumping of garbage in front of his ashram by Haridwar mayor and BJP leader Manoj Garg, considered close to Uttarakhand Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik.

The supporters of Satpal Maharaj, a godman with an ashram in Haridwar, and Madan Kaushik had clashed last month following flooding of the locality where the Urban Development Minister resides.

Kaushik’s supporters had blamed Satpal Maharaj's ashram of blocking the flow of flood water by building a wall. Haridwar Mayor Manoj Garg had ordered demolition of the wall but was opposed by Maharaj’s supporters leading to the clash. After the clash, the municipal employees of Haridwar had thrown garbage in front of the ashram, much to the chagrin of Satpal Maharaj. The Uttarakhand unit of the party had formed a committee and held several meetings to calm the bad blood between the ministers.

However, Satpal Maharaj surprised everyone by raising the issue before the party boss.

A total of 65 leaders, ministers and legislators gave their suggestions to the national president during the visit.

The state government has made elaborate preparations for the visit of Amit Shah, who would be attending more than 20 programmes to prepare the party for the next 2019 general elections.