Trouble for Congress in Uttarakhand, Former CM Harish Rawat Hits out at Party Leadership
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 22: After Punjab where the change of leadership has failed to resolve the crisis within the ruling Congress, the grand old party seems to be in trouble in yet another poll-bound state with its senior leader in Uttarakhand sharply criticizing the style of functioning of the party leadership.
The former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat, who was expected to be the party’s face in the coming elections to the state Assembly due in a few months’ time, threatened to “take sanyas” complaining about the party organization and its central leadership playing a negative role and hindering the party’s election endeavours. In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Rawat said the party organisation had turned its back on him and he was seeking providence’ guidance to decide his future course of action.
His comments drew sharp reactions from the former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh who has jumped into the BJP bandwagon after he was made to quit the office in September at the mediation of Rawat who was the AICC in-charge of Punjab then. “You reap what you sow,” Amarinder Singh tweeted joining Rawat’s comments against the Congress organization.
A social media post by Rawat in which he claims the party organisation is hindering instead of helping him set political circles abuzz in the hill state. In a Facebook post and a series of tweets made from his official Twitter account, Rawat said “satta (power)” has “left several crocodiles in the poll ocean” he has to swim, and the representatives of those on whose orders he is swimming are tying up his hands. He said the powers that be had let “crocodiles” loose in the sea that he had to navigate, which he termed the “sea of elections” in another tweet. While Rawat hinted at taking sanyas, a Congress source said the move could be interpreted as a pressure tactic to gain more of a say in ticket selection and name him as the chief ministerial candidate. The source added that party’s Uttarakhand in-charge Devender Yadav was reaching out to Rawat.
In one of his tweets, Mr. Rawat asked: “Isn’t it strange that we have to swim in the sea of elections and the organisational structure for cooperation in most places, instead of extending a hand in cooperation, is either turning its back or playing a negative role.” Rawat said the people he was supposed to follow, in an apparent reference to the Congress leadership, were tying his hands and feet. He said he was in a state of dilemma and hoped the new year would show him the way, asking for the guidance of God.
Rawat’s tweets came a day after the Congress’ screening committee concluded its five-day visit to Uttarakhand to select candidates for the upcoming polls. An adviser to Rawat, Surinder Aggarwal, said the cause of his disappointment against the party leadership could be that posters of the former Chief Minister were removed from a rally addressed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
He, however, refused to elaborate on the political situation at a press conference he had convened soon after he expressed his anger in the tweets. He said he wanted to meet the media to discuss on the employment situation in the hill state under the present BJP dispensation and would confine to the topic.
In his tweets in Hindi Rawat said, “It is strange how I have to swim in the ocean of election. Instead of stretching its arms for help, the organisational structure is either ignoring me or playing a negative role. The leadership has left several crocodiles in the ocean where I have to swim,” Rawat said.
Rawat added, “The representatives of those on whose orders I have to swim are tying up my hands and feet. On several occasions, it comes to my mind that I have swum enough and it is time to rest. Then another voice rises, asking me to never be helpless and never run away. I am in a dilemma. May the new year show me my path. I am sure that Bhagwan Kedarnath will show me the way.”
For the Congress in Uttarakhand, long ridden by factionalism, Rawat is considered the best hope. While the Congress party has not yet declared its CM face for the election-bound state, many in the party believe that the vote for Congress in this election will be for Rawat. Congress organisation general secretary Mathura Dutt Joshi recently said the conversation started by Rawat of ‘Uttarakhandiyat’, or the spirit of Uttarakhand, will help the party.
“Harish Rawat is a very popular leader in the state and he has around 7 to 10 per cent of his individual votes in the state,” Joshi had said recently. “It doesn’t matter who is going to be our CM candidate tomorrow, that is something the party has to decide, but as of now the vote will be for him. This becomes more significant because the voter knows that because of his age, this might be the last election for the 73 year old Harish Rawat,” said Joshi.
Rawat’s warning is loud and clear ahead of the Uttarakhand election due early next year. Considered to be a close confidante of the Gandhis, Rawat is a member of the Congress Working Committee and also expected to be the party’s face in Uttarakhand. Not long ago, he was firefighting for the Congress in Punjab, one of the states heading to polls early next year. As the party’s Punjab in-charge, he navigated many difficult months mediating between Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his rival Navjot Singh Sidhu. He asked to be relieved of his Punjab role so he could concentrate on his home state Uttarakhand. On his request, the party replaced him as Punjab in-charge.
While the Congress leadership believed that the party had a fair chance of returning to power in Uttarakhand with the state’s ruling BJP neck-deep in infighting, Rawat’s rebellion, if it came to that extreme, could mean trouble for the party.
