Uttarakhand minister Harak Rawat offers to leave labour ministry, asks CM to 'remove' him

The disagreement between Shamsher Singh Satyal, president of the Uttarakhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, and Labor Minister Dr Harak Singh Rawat is still getting bigger. Rawat has now offered to leave the Labour Ministry, notwithstanding his demand on Satyal's dismissal. According to Rawat, he has asked Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to appoint Satyal as Labour Minister if he is better capable.

Harak Singh Rawat demands Satyal's removal

Rawat said, "I've told CM to remove me from my post. I had said this to former CMs as well. If the person (State Workers Welfare Board president) is more capable than me, then appoint him as the Labour Minister."

Harak Singh Rawat, the state's Labour Minister, was in charge of the chairmanship of the Workers Welfare Board after the BJP took power in the state. During the previous Trivendra government's tenure, Shamsher Singh Satyal, the chairman of the Labour Contract Board, was appointed chairman of the Workers Welfare Board, withdrawing this responsibility from Rawat. Former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat is believed to be close friends with Satyal. Since then, the labour minister and Satyal, the board's chairman, have been at odds. There has been a verbal battle between the two, and they are not shy in labelling each other's activities as unlawful.

Uttarakhand politics

Clearly, the board's work is being harmed as a result of the dispute. During the reign of the then-chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat, the secretary of the board was changed after the government changed leadership in March. The current board recommended that the secretary be fired, which the Labour Minister strongly opposed. Not only that, but Satyal met with Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami four days ago to update him on the board's status since its inception.

Labour Minister Rawat has been calling for Satyal's removal for months, but the government has not taken any decision on this yet. Rawat, enraged by this, has started a new front against Satyal. He notified the media about the offer to quit the Ministry of Labour on Sunday. Rawat recently met with Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami regarding the same. He claimed that he had previously suggested the same thing to the then-Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat in the past. 

The disagreement between the Workers Welfare Board has reached Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. Uttarakhand CM Dhami, who returned to Dehradun on Sunday evening after a three-day visit to Kumaon, is expected to make a decision shortly.

Picture Credit: ANI/@PushkarDhami_Twitter/Shamsher Singh Satyal/Facebook