Harish Rawat’s role is curbed, and Congress relies on his former aide to the Uttarakhand CM.

Mahara, a two-time MLA from Ranikhet, took over as PCC president in 2022 from Godial. He has been on an extension since April. Mahara was reportedly keen to devote more time to his constituency as the elections approached, and has now been made a special invitee to the Congress Working Committee.

The previous leadership composition had led to accusations against the Congress of favoring Kumaon leaders, with Mahara, Thakur, CLP deputy leader Bhuwan Chandra Kapri, a Brahmin, and CLP Yashpal Arya, a Scheduled Caste, all belonging to the area.

The new appointments represent all major caste groups from the two districts of the state, including Garhwal. While Gudial is a Brahmin from Garhwal, Pritam Singh is a Rajput from Dehradun and hails from Jaunsar Pawar district which has ST status. Arya and his deputy Capri were retained.

The obvious part of the changes announced on Wednesday was the limited role of former Prime Minister and Congress heavyweight Harish Rawat. Godial was once a close associate of Harish Rawat, but there has reportedly been a fallout since August, when Rawat supported Pritam Singh as CPI(M) chief.

Gudial made his election debut in 2002, garnering attention by registering a stunning victory over senior BJP leader and former Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. But in 2007, Gudial lost to Pokhriyal.

In 2012, Gudial contested from the Srinagar seat, narrowly defeating BJP’s Dhan Singh Rawat. In 2017, history repeated itself and lost to Rawat. Gudial was appointed Uttarakhand Congress chief in 2021, but suffered a setback a year later when he suffered a second successive defeat in Srinagar’s Rawat in the Assembly elections. He gave way to Mahara as head of the Chinese Communist Party soon after.

Godial thanked “all the workers who stood with me” after his return as Congress president. He said, “I pledged to form a government in this state that will end the culture of corruption. I will work to improve the state and its people. The current government is operating with an attitude of dictatorship and corruption. We will break this culture.”

The appointment of Harak Singh Rawat, a Rajput leader from Puri Garhwal, may face controversy as he was at the heart of cases of forest felling and illegal construction in the Corbett Tiger Reserve, with the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI investigating him. Congress sources said any action by central agencies against Rawat now would be portrayed as a political witch hunt.

The sidelining of Harish Rawat is another blow to the former chief minister after his loss in 2022 – the party’s second successive loss to the BJP in the Assembly polls. Many congressional leaders believed it was a result of partisan divisions stirred up by the veteran congressman. Harish Rawat’s faction was leading in the polls.

After his huge loss, the party sent a message by choosing Mahara, Harish Rawat’s son-in-law, to head the party while pushing him to the background.

On Tuesday night, the Congress also changed its district presidents, touted new young faces and repeated only a few of the 27 presidents.

The party hopes that the new look, coupled with apparent discontent among the public following incidents of paper leakage, protests demanding better health services in the hills, and most recently by Uttarakhand Purva Sainik Kalyan Limited workers seeking regularization, will help shape a challenge to the BJP in 2027.

Party senior vice president Suryakant Dhasmana said the decisions taken by the top leadership, “affecting the potential and competence of senior leaders”, would help in “rejuvenating” the party. He also predicted that elections could be held early, in December 2026, given the Kumbh Mela scheduled for early 2027.

Among the challenges faced by the party, Dhasmana listed the intensified special review of electoral rolls, claiming that “the poor and minorities in at least 20 seats in the Terai region may be affected.”