Uttarakhand Politics: A Tale of Twists and Turns

Ever since the formation of Uttarakhand in 2000, the situation of the state has been marked by disputes between the two prominent political parties. At that time, Nityananda Swami Ji left Congress for the power-struggling BJP and had the good fortune of being made the interim chief minister. However, this did not reduce the inter-party conflicts and Bhagat Singh Koshyari was made the Chief Minister. The situation was such that the BJP badly lost the elections in 2002 - the first interim Chief Minister Swami also lost the election.

In 2007, after defeating the Congress, BJP formed a paralyzed government – it side-lined Bhagat Singh Koshyari under whose leadership the party had won and made Bhuvan Chand Khanduri the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. However, given the continued conflicts, the controversy-ridden Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank was crowned Chief Minister by the BJP. But because of allegations of corruption, Khanduri was again made the Chief Minister; and he lost the Assembly election.

 

In 2017, the BJP made a strong comeback. They won 57 out of 70 seats to form the government. But again, the party ignored Koshyari. Trivendra Rawat, an unknown face who was close to the BJP national president was given the Chief Minister’s chair. Koshyari, Khanduri and Nishank were left stunned. Despite being surrounded with many controversies and internal opposition - over 30 MLAs encamped in Delhi in protest - Trivendra has remained unscathed.

 

Congress’s situation is also like BJP. After the formation of the state in 2000, the big question was - who will be the Congress president in Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand)? While Indira Hridayesh appeared on all banners and posters, it was Harish Rawat who ultimately became the President – possibly only Harish Rawat himself can shed light on how this happened. Being solid supporters of the party, the duo of Dhirendra Pratap and Kishore Upadhyay prepared the state of Uttaranchal for Harish Rawat and for the Congress. People like ND Tiwari, Satpal Maharaj, Vijay Bahuguna and Indira Hridayesh mounted enormous challenges.

 

In 2002, the Congress touched a majority figure in the state, but because of opposition from Satpal Maharaj, Harish Rawat despite having the majority with him fell behind in the CM race and Sonia Gandhi made ND Tiwari the Chief Minister. The Congress’s politics in Uttarakhand started faltering from here. But Upadhyay-led Rawat faction stood strong and Harish Rawat retained the post of state president. Of course, Rawat's closeness with Jitendra Prasad and Rajesh Pilot continued to be an eyesore for the Congress high command.

 

The Congress lost the 2007 assembly elections under the Tiwari-Rawat leadership. Yashpal Arya replaced Harish Rawat as the State Congress President and Harak was made CLP. At that time also people were surprised at this combination, but Kishore Upadhyay became a saviour for Harak and the Harak-Kishore duo did not let the BJP government sit peacefully. As new episodes of corruption were unearthed, BJP had to change its Chief Minister thrice and finally in 2012, the BJP had to face defeat.

 

People were astonished when the Congress made Vijay Bahuguna the Chief Minister - he had nothing to do with Uttarakhand, he had a controversial tenure as a judge, and he was digging Congress’s grave by pitching rebel candidates against Kishore Upadhyay and others. Harish Rawat once again made a mistake and raised a revolt. There were even talks that Harish Rawat had met Gadkari and was going to take the CM’s oath with support from BJP, but Pritam Singh got Harish this time and his planning collapsed.

 

Pritam was rewarded with the Home Ministry and rich department of PMGSY and now as the State Congress President; otherwise making the party president on 2% population, is nothing short of committing suicide for any political party - Pritam has also spent some time with BJP previously and belongs to a Scheduled Tribe.

 

Bahuguna's countdown started when he ignored Kishore Upadhyay’s candidature and promoted his son Saket for contesting the Lok Sabha by-election; and his son lost the election. After Bahuguna was removed, Harish Rawat was made the CM, and the party started breaking up, Satpal Maharaj joined BJP the following day.

 

Kishore Upadhyay was made the Congress State President, the pair of Rawat and Upadhyay won the Assembly by-elections and local body elections. Such was the strength of the government under this pair that it survived even when 10 Congress MLAs tricked the Party and joined the BJP. Indeed, the Congress government would not have survived if Kishore Upadhyay had not run the 'Save Democracy' movement and brought people on the road. 

 

But the damage had been done. Pradeep Tamta’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha weighed heavy on Congress. The Congress workers sat at home because of insult by its President. Congress was reduced to 11 – Harish Rawat lost the election from both the places; Kishore Upadhyay also lost the election because of the rebel candidate of the Congress. Upadhyay was removed from the post of party president – the Party has not answer as to why he was removed.

 

Since then, the Congress has been on a gradual slope, losing every election – the Lok Sabha elections were even worse, Pritam Singh and Harish Rawat lost badly.

 

Today, the Chief Minister and the entire government are steeped in corruption, but the Congress leaders are doing nothing, banking only on anti-incumbency. Till the time the Congress does not coordinate efforts between its four leaders and regions, victory in the 2022 elections will be like a mirage for the Congress party. They need to understand that they are fighting against the Modi-Shah pair and not against Trivendra Rawat. If Harish Rawat and Kishore Upadhyay can revive their chemistry and work together, the Congress can come back into power – every common Congressman understands this. It is time for those in power to understand and act on this.

 

(The author is a former journalist and former University lecturer.)