Fear of rebellion in Assembly elections worries Congress, BJP leadership

SMA KAZMI

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 25

The managers of the Congress and the BJP in Uttarakhand, where the Assembly elections are scheduled to be held early next year, are worried about the possible rebellion in the parties that can spoil the poll fortunes of their official candidates.

The factionalism in both parties ahead of the elections have led to a belief that it will be near impossible to stem the future rebellion owing to the growing ambitions of senior leaders of these parties.

The BJP, which will make a bid to capture the power from the ruling Congress, is more fearful with the induction of 10 rebel Congress legislators, including former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna. Many of the senior Congress leaders, owing allegiance to the rebels, have also jumped the fence disturbing the permutation and combinations in many Assembly segments. Already a group of BJP leaders, hopeful of getting party nomination from various Assembly seats in the Garhwal region, threatened by the entry of Congress rebel legislators, have raised their concern. Some of them have even threatened to fight the polls as Independents. They argued that they had been nurturing their constituencies for years, so party tickets to Congress rebels would be a gross injustice to them.

With the proliferation of senior leaders, including four former Chief Ministers, the Uttarakhand unit of the BJP has been divided in many groups. All of them have been trying to outdo one another in the run up to the polls. Already a war of words has started between the factions, even evident on the social media. A section of party workers and leaders questioned the wisdom of senior state party leaders for inducting the 10 Congress legislators into the party fold. They asked that how can a former Chief Minister, who was earlier blamed by the party for alleged corruption and inept handling of Kedarnath disaster, became a favourite. The verbal skirmish led to the expulsion of a party leader, close to former Chief Minister and Haridwar Lok Sabha MP Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, by the state BJP president Ajay Bhatt.

In the Congress camp, the situation is no different. After the departure of 10 legislators, Harish Rawat group prevailed upon all others. However, after the differences between the Congress state president Kishore Upadhyay and Chief Minister Harish Rawat cropped up following the nomination of Pradeep Tamta for Rajya Sabha seat, the party has been virtually divided between Garhwal and the Kumaon regions. Most of the rebel legislators who left the Congress to join the BJP, belonged to the Garhwal region.

Upadhyay, a protégé of Harish Rawat, belong to Garhwal and was expecting him to nominate him for Rajya Sabha. But Harish Rawat preferred Pradeep Tamta from Kumaon, leading to a gulf between him and Upadhyay. In the past three months, the Congress state president has not left any opportunity to embarrass the Chief Minister. Now, a divide between the state Congress party and the state government is also evident on many issues, including the issue of relationship with ministers belonging to the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF), ignoring the claims of leaders from Garhwal and even alleged corruption.

While, Harish Rawat has a complete sway over his native Kumaon region, Upadhyay has been trying hard to have his own camp, particularly in the Garhwal region. Many of the party leaders from the region have aligned with him. The tussle between these two leaders, who are publicly trying to show unity, is be expected to become more pronounced while getting party nominations for their own men. Those who will fail to get party tickets, may fight the elections as Independents, marring the prospects of party's candidates.