Ten days from polling day, in the hill state where the BJP enjoys good support and where the Congress has one of its few remaining governments, crossovers and rebellions are the story in all but 15-20 of its 70 seats. Leaders in the two parties estimate that at least a thousand of their members have switched camps in the past fortnight. Whether it is the Chief Minister, powerful ministers, or debutants, all are facing rebels. In Rishikesh, distraught BJP leaders wrote their resignation letters in blood.
Even after many leaders have been coerced into withdrawing nominations, the BJP is facing “official” rebellion in 25 per cent of the constituencies, and the Congress in 35 per cent. The BJP has given tickets to 13 Congress rebels, three of them hours after they joined the party. The Congress has obliged seven BJP rebels and two Independents; declared support to an Independent days after its own candidate filed nomination; and fielded a weak candidate in favour of another Independent
Three neighbouring constituencies, Kotdwar, Yamkeshwar and Chaubattakhal, best exemplify this game of musical chairs. All the seats are in Pauri Garhwal district, also the headquarters of the Garhwal division and home to the only central university of the state.
Congress rebel and one of the BJP’s CM probables, Satpal Maharaj, is contesting from Chaubattakhal. To accommodate Maharaj, a self-proclaimed spiritual leader who has turned to various parties for solace in his 28-year career, the BJP dropped its sitting MLA and its former state party chief Teerath Singh Rawat.
That set off a series of resignations and rebellions.
Harak Singh Rawat, who had also crossed over to the BJP from the Congress, too wanted Chaubattakhal. While the sitting MLA from Rudraprayag, Harak Singh felt he had the right to demand a seat of his choice as he was among the most prominent defectors along with former CM Vijay Bahugana from the Congress to the BJP last year.
However, Harak got the Kotdwar constituency, the last among his choice of five. The winner from Kotdwar in 2012 was the Congress’s Surendra Negi, who had proved his mettle beating sitting CM B C Khanduri (a rare incidence of an incumbent CM losing). But Harak wasn’t the only one unhappy at the Kotdwar decision. So was the BJP’s former Kotdwar MLA Shailendra Singh Rawat, who promptly resigned from the party sending an open letter saying senior BJP leaders had “completely sacrificed ideology and ideals for their petty interests”.
Shailendra Singh, in turn, joined the Congress and got the Yamkeshwar seat. It was now the turn of Yamkeshwar’s sitting Congress MLA, Renu Bist, to rebel. She was among the 24 recently expelled by the Congress for contesting as an Independent.
The BJP has had its own Yamkeshwar problems. It passed over its three-time sitting MLA from here, Vijaya Barthwal, to give a ticket to Khanduri’s daughter Ritu Khanduri, who is making her poll debut. When the BJP ignored criticism of dynasty politics in picking Ritu, Barthwal announced she would contest as an Independent, shooting off a scathing letter similar to Shailendra’s. However, the BJP seems to have pacified her as of now.
Meanwhile, things are not rosy in the seat where it all began either. From Chaubattakhal, besides Teerath Singh, Maharaj is facing other angry BJP members, including the powerful Kavindra Ishtwal, who has filed nomination as an Independent. Maharaj turned to senior BJP leader Anil Baluni for help, but Baluni failed to budge Ishtwal. Among those expelled on February 1 from the BJP was Ishtwal. On Saturday Feb 04,2017, the BJP appointed Teerath as the party’s national secretary
The state’s first CM, the BJP’s Nityanand Swami, lost his post due to internal dissent. The party’s seven years of rule saw five CM changes, each time after a leader was pulled down by rivals. The defeat of sitting CM Khanduri in 2012 was also believed to have been plotted by a BJP predecessor.
The Congress has seen three CMs in its 10 years in power. Congress veteran N D Tiwari, the only Uttarakhand CM of the party to complete five years, was constantly obstructed by Harish Rawat. Tiwari, who had ironically opposed a separate Uttarakhand, almost joined the BJP recently while another of the Congress CMs, Vijay Bahuguna, is already in the saffron fold. It is because BJP president Amit Shah’s photograph with Tiwari caused deep resentment in the BJP Uttarakhand unit that his formal induction has been delayed
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