The
Congress has left the leadership question in Uttarakhand wide open.
After ND Tiwari, chief minister, expressed his unwilling to contest the
February 21 assembly election, the AICC, in its own unique style of
providing a level playing field, did not include in its list of 65
contestants the names of Harish Rawat, state unit chief and Tiwari’s
bete noire, and Satpal Maharaj, another claimant for the CM’s
post. The trio are expected to lead the electoral campaign in the
hill state.
But if the Congress wins the February 21 polls for the 70-member
assembly, it may face a replay of the 2002 scenario. At that time,
Rawat, who is now a Rajya Sabha member, had led the party to victory.
But he was pipped to the CM’s post when Tiwari used his age, experience
and credentials as former union minister and UP chief minister to lay
claim to it.
This time, Tiwari may want to play a role in choosing his successor
even though for the last 15 months in the run up to the polls, he
himself was a reluctant CM. He repeatedly petitioned the Congress high
command to relieve him. During this period, the octogenarian leader
seemed to fluctuate in his desire for a gubernatorial assignment in
Maharashtra, a berth in the Manmohan Singh cabinet and even a place in
the Rajya Sabha as a step perhaps towards becoming a vice presidential
or presidential nominee. Meanwhile, the factionalism in the state unit
continued to fester.
At Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s behest, Tiwari and Rawat, in
particular, put their differences aside to project a show of unity in
trying to secure a second term for the party on the plank of
development. But it is an open question whether the ground level
supporters of these leaders would patch up too.
The Congress had 36 MLAs in the outgoing assembly. Though the party
faces incumbency, it decided to renominate all its sitting legislators
- barring Tiwari who did not want to contest and GS Rajhar - to contain
further dissensions in the faction-ridden state.
Accordingly, all the ministers find a place in the list for the
February 21 election. They include Indra Hirdesh (Haldwani), Preetam
Singh (Chakrata-ST), Nav Bharat (Vikasnagar), Lt Gen TPS Rawat
(Dhumakot), Narendra S Bhandari (Pauri) and Tilak Raj Behar
(Rudrapur-Kichha).
Speaker Yashpal Arya will contest from his Mukteshwar constituency.
Tiwari’s replacement in Ramnagar Yogambar Singh Rawat was elected from
this segment in 2002. He later vacated the seat for Tiwari when the
latter became chief minister. The list also includes Satpal Maharaj’s
wife Anita who will test her luck in Bironkhai.
Besides the five seats, which are held by non-Congress parties, the
party has not yet announced its candidate for the Tehri Lok Sabha seat
that fell vacant with the death of the BJP’s Manvendra Shah.
Email Saroj Nagi: snagi@hindustantimes.com