Wily Harak Rawat eyes old bastion Lansdowne, Kotdwar

Politicians have chameleon-like qualities. They adapt to people’s surroundings so that they are liked and preferred. But eventually true colours show.  Harak Singh Rawat is one such wily politician who is adept at changing constituency. He has the quality of perseverance and hard work to adjust in the new constituency. He never leaves one seat unless he is sure about the new one.

Harak Rawat is active in Pauri Garhwal district, especially Lansdowne and Kotdwar constituencies, for some time now. He is searching for a seat to fight the forthcoming Assembly elections. All other eight MLAs, who deserted the Congress in protest against Chief Minister Harish Rawat’s discriminatory behaviour in March last year, are engaged in the same process. They have to claim their seats against those BJP leaders whom they defeated in the last elections. But Harak Rawat has high stakes. He has not only to win a seat but also to defeat some Congress stalwart to prove his strength in his new political family—the BJP.

Nowadays, Harak Rawat is keenly working in the Lansdowne constituency. He had won the Assembly elections from Lansdowne in 2002 and 2007. He is learnt to have conveyed his willingness to contest the Assembly elections from this seat to the BJP leadership. He claims that by fighting the elections from Lansdowne he could motivate Thakurs in adjacent constituencies such as Yamkeshwar, Bironkhal, Chaubtiyakhal and Pauri to vote for the BJP. 

Sitting MLA may revolt 

Dilip Mahant (Rawat) is the sitting MLA from Lansdowne. He defeated Lt. Gen Tejpal Singh Rawat (retd) of a lesser known regional party Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha by more than 5,000 votes in the 2012 elections. Jyoti Rautela of the Congress came third. Lt Gen Tejpal Rawat banked on the support of ex-servicemen but on Khanduri’s call they voted for Dilip Mahant. Lt Gen Tejpal Rawat has so far not been active in the constituency. 

Dilip Mahant will revolt if the BJP fields Harak Rawat from Lansdowne. Though he is not likely to join the Congress, he may fight the election as an Independent candidate. Political observers say Dilip Mahant belongs to the BC Khanduri faction and the former Chief Minister will put his weight behind his nomination from Lansdowne this time also. Given his crafty nature, it may be a ploy of Harak Rawat to bring around the party for his candidature from the Kotdwar constituency where he has been active for quite some time. He has a good number of followers in the Lansdowne constituency. A close associate of Harak Rawat says that they will support Dilip Mahant if he again gets the BJP ticket from Lansdowne. Besides his victory, Harak Rawat wants to ensure many other BJP candidates to emerge victorious to bring them to his camp later. That is why he will do everything for Dilip Mahant’s victory.  

Jyoti Rautela has again staked her claim for the Congress ticket. She most of the time lives in Delhi but keeps visiting Lansdowne to meet local Congress workers, especially young party men. She has the background of the NSUI, Delhi. 

Wish to be giant killer

Harak Rawat is also eying the Kotdwar Assembly constituency that Health Minister Surendra Singh Negi represents. Negi himself enjoys the status of a giant slayer as he defeated former Chief Minister BC Khanduri in the last Assembly elections. The Congress suitably rewarded him for his heroic feat by giving him a Cabinet berth. Harak Rawat’s frequent visits to Kotdwar are a clear signal that he may fight the elections from the constituency. It will serve many purposes. Even when Harak Rawat was in the Congress, he and Satpal Maharaj always wanted to project themselves as the most powerful Thakur leader in Garhwal. That is the reason, even in those days, they had different lobbies in the Congress and their supporters had fought with one another on various issues. Second, by defeating Surendra Negi, a heavyweight Congress leader, Harak Rawat will give a clear message to the BJP leadership about his strength and worth. This will also silence those in the BJP who are opposing him, as they think his entry has marred their chances in the party of a better future.

Deep-rooted factionalism  

However, for Harak Rawat the path to the state Assembly through the Kotdwar seat is not without challenges. First, opposition to him is brewing in the local BJP unit, which too is divided. Former Kotdwar MLA Shailendra Rawat has been preparing for the last two three years to contest the Assembly elections from the seat. Shailendra was the sitting MLA when he was denied the ticket and Khanduri fought the 2012 Assembly elections from Kotdwar and lost. Khanduri's ignominious defeat is history now. Had Khanduri won the elections last time, the political scenario had been different and the BJP would have been ruling Uttarakhand. In fact, in that elections Khanduri showed his political immaturity as he, with his military mindset, thought that once he files his candidature for the Assembly elections everyone will fall in line and follow. It did not happen. Shailendra showed his displeasure openly but was persuaded later to hold meetings with Khanduri. It is an open secret that though Shailendra shared the dais with Khanduri, his followers did not work for the latter. Khanduri lost the elections by more than 4,000 votes. The BJP’s seat tally fell one short of majority and it lost the opportunity to form the government to be headed by Khanduri.

Shailendra, a Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s confidant, says the ‘misunderstanding’ with Khanduri has been sorted out and now the latter too wants him to fight the elections from Kotdwar. But those close to Khanduri say that he will see to it that Shailendra, who was instrumental in his defeat in the last elections, does not get the BJP ticket. Instead Khanduri will support the candidature of former district president Dhirendra Chauhan. 

Present Kotdwar BJP president Shailendra Singh Bist is an arch rival of Shailendra Singh Rawat. Party workers say that if anybody in the BJP has a chance against Surendra Singh Negi, it is Shailendra Singh Rawat. To support their views, Shailendra Rawat has organised the biggest BJP rallies in Kotdwar. He seems to be more popular now and commands much more followers than the BJP local unit. Lansdowne MLA Dilip Mahant is also opposed to Shailendra Rawat and he along with the district BJP unit is openly inviting Harak Rawat to fight the elections from Kotdwar.

Surendra Negi well entrenched

Surendra Singh Negi has a solid support base. Besides a secure vote bank, he enjoys the support of Muslim voters of the constituency. Moreover, Negis are in a large number among the Thakur voters. Surendra Negi being a minister in the present government had the advantage of bringing many projects in Kotdwar. He has to his credit the massive government hospital complex and the latest equipment installed there. Similarly, the work has also begun on Kotdwar Medical College with the identification of land for it. The Chilla-Haridwar road, which could not be constructed due to environmental issues, is now being built after the proposition of a 7-km overhead bridge as an animal corridor was cleared. The Congress-supported students’ union won the students’ election in local Post Graduate College primarily because the government had provided funds for its modernisation. Surendra Negi’s opponents say that the projects he has brought in Kotdwar have benefited only a lobby of contractors. Though he got a big modern hospital building constructed in Kotdwar, locals believe it has benefited only contractors. The hospital neither has adequate staff and specialists nor expensive instruments or technicians. Shailendra Rawat claims that he had initiated projects such as the medical college during his tenure as MLA with Khanduri’s help. 

Khanduri’s defeat a lesson 

Harak Rawat’s supporters too concede that Kotdwar is not an easy seat for him to win. They say that the seat from where Khanduri lost the elections can’t be too safe for Harak Rawat. If the BJP gives Harak Rawat the green light to fight the elections from Kotdwar, the same factors that led to Khanduri’s ignominious defeat will come to play. But Harak Rawat’s enthusiastic supporters claim that Khanduri lost due to his arrogance. Khanduri’s behaviour with local BJP workers was not cordial and his strategy to import his campaigner from outside failed miserably. This will not happen with Harak Rawat as he and his followers have been meeting all local BJP workers personally. They are also targeting dissatisfied Congress workers and those who were with Harak Rawat in that party.

There is a possibility that if Shailendra Rawat, who has been preparing for the last three years to fight the elections from Kotdwar, is denied the ticket by the BJP, he may fight as an Independent candidate, making things difficult for Harak Rawat.

Harak Rawat’s lobby wants to win more seats than Satpal Maharaj’s group, which has a strong hold in the Chamoli region. It is a strategy not only for the Assembly elections but also for post-election maneuvering.

— Kamal Joshi Senior journalist based at Kotdwar, Pauri Garhwal