Dehradun, May 16
The Congress has won all five seats in Uttarakhand. This has come as a major setback for the BJP in the state. It is after more than 20 years that the Congress has been able to perform well in the plains as well as hill areas of Uttarakhand.
Two senior Congress leaders, former union minister Satpal Maharaj won the Pauri Garhwal seat and Harish Rawat the Haridwar seat. Sitting Congress MPs Vijay Bahuguna from Tehri Garhwal and KC Singh Baba from Nainital managed to retain their seats. The Congress managed to break into the BJP citadel of Almora with its candidate Pardeep Tamta emerging winner in a close contest.
For former minister Maharaj, a guru running “Manav Dharma”, it was sweet revenge. Fighting elections from Pauri Garhwal since 1989, he could win only in 1996 to become a minister in the Inder Kumar Gujral ministry at the Centre, defeating BC Khanduri.
But he lost to Khanduri in the 1991,1998, 1999 Lok Sabha elections. In 2004, his protégé, Lt Gen TPS Rawat (retd) also lost to Khanduri. The latter chose to shift sides and contested the 2008 byelection on the BJP ticket but was defeated by his ‘guru’ Satpal Maharaj by a slender margin.
This time, Satpal Maharaj was able to defeat Lt Gen Rawat, snatching a stunning victory in the home constituency of the Chief Minister Khanduri.
For Harish Rawat, who shifted from Almora to Haridwar, it was a long-awaited victory. Rawat who won the Almora seat in 1980,1984 and 1989 faced defeat in subsequent elections. His wife Renuka Rawat too was defeared in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. This time, Rawat was able to wrest the seat from the Samajwadi Party in a multi-cornered contest.
