PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/Haldwani/Dehradun
Former chief minister Harish Rawat, leader of opposition Yashpal Arya former Pradesh Congress Committee president and MLA Pritam Singh along with senior leaders of the Congress and BJP paid tributes to former cabinet minister Indira Hridayesh on her fourth death anniversary at a meet organised by her son and Haldwani MLA Sumit Hridayesh in Haldwani on Friday. Former BJP State president and MLA Banshidhar Bhagat, MP Ajay Bhatt’s representative Lakshman Khati and leaders of various political parties attending the meet. After paying floral tributes, the leaders shared their political life experiences involving the deceased leder, stating that Hridayesh was not just an able politician and also a sensitive leader of the people. She had played an important role in the development of not just Haldwani but the entire Uttarakhand. Leaders across political lines acknowledged that she had given Haldwani a new identity with the impact of works she had initiated still resonating in the region.
Tributes were also paid to the leader at the Congress State headerquarters in Dehradun. The party’s State vice president Suryakant Dhasmana said that after late HN Bahuguna and ND Tiwari, Hridayesh was the leader with the longest parliamentary experience. He said apart from being a very popular leader, Hridayesh was an efficient administrator and she had no peers in floor management inside the Assembly. Dhasmana said that Hridayesh was the leader of the Congress legislature party in the first interim Vidhan Sabha constituted after the creation of the State in the year 2000. In the first elected government of the State, she became the Public Works Department (PWD) and Parliamentary Affairs minister and in the third Vidhan Sabha became Finance Minister of the State. In the fourth Vidhan Sabha, she was the leader of the opposition. Dhasmana said that Indira Hridayesh will always remain a source of inspiration for the Congress workers.
