Shishir Prashant: Court battles won, Rawat faces anti-incumbency woe

Reinstated as chief minister, he has to find a way to bring the Congress back to power in the Assembly elections in 2017

With Assembly elections in Uttarakhand just five months away, Chief Minister Harish Rawat is facing a political challenge: How to bring the Congress back to power?

Uttarakhand has never given any party a consecutive term in the government in its 16 years of existence.

After Rawat triumphed in legal and political battles against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following the March 18 rebellion by nine Congress members of the Assembly, he emerged politically stronger in the party, with most of his adversaries - among them, Vijay Bahuguna and Harak Singh Rawat - joining the BJP. Satpal Maharaj, another bête noire, quit the party soon after Rawat became chief minister on February 1, 2014.

Now that Rawat has set his sights on the elections, he is facing umpteen problems that may mar the Congress' poll prospects.

In the beginning of 2014, Rawat was given the top job in Uttarakhand so that he could lift the image of the party that had been dented, especially after the 2013 floods in the state. In the face of vehement opposition from a majority of Congress Assembly members, the party high command, especially party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, reposed faith in Rawat's leadership.

The tide soon began to turn against Rawat. The government led by him faced a raft of corruption charges in mining and excise sectors, prompting a section of Congress leaders to quip that the Bahuguna government was better.

In March, rebellion in the Congress led to the imposition of President's rule for the first time in Uttarakhand, albeit for a short period. After fighting battles in the High Court and the Supreme Court, Rawat was reinstated as chief minister. For his reinstatement, the Congress paid a heavy price in the form of desertion by party rebels. "Even if one Assembly member leaves, it is a setback for the party," a top leader in the state Congress said. "But in our party, 10 such members left, weakening it considerably."

Officially, though, the state Congress won't accept that the rebellion might hamper its chances in the Assembly elections. "We have plenty of leaders, who are ready to contest on the seats of the rebels," said state Congress chief Kishore Upadhyay. "Our problem is different. We face a challenge within the party. Just before the elections, several Congress leaders contest elections as rebels; this becomes a stumbling block." Upadhyay said the BJP might not pose a big problem for the Congress. "We have a face (in Rawat), but the BJP's face is yet to be seen," he said. The BJP is said to be dithering over who should lead the party at the hustings.

Lately, differences between Upadhyay and Rawat have fuelled the belief that discontent continues to simmer beneath the surface. Last week, the Congress high command summoned both Upadhayay and Rawat to New Delhi to convince them to fight the elections as a united party.

Fresh infighting began in July, as scores of state Congress leaders, especially Assembly members who were denied ministerial berths, openly alleged that they were being ignored by Rawat.

Upadhyay was peeved at the chief minister after being denied a Rajya Sabha seat. The state Congress chief, who wrote more than 1,000 letters to Rawat airing his grievances, has now called for accommodating 132 party leaders in various top posts of corporations and state government committees with immediate effect. Rawat is in no mood to do so.

Congress Assembly members such as Jeet Ram, Hira Singh Bisht, Furkan Ahmed, Hemesh Kharkwal and Madan Singh Bisht have expressed their resentment to the high command.

Another challenge for the Rawat government is the inordinate delay in passing the state Budget due to the March 18 rebellion and the Appropriation Bill fiasco. The Appropriation Bill was finally passed in the July 21-22 session. But even after the Budget was passed, monsoon rains caused havoc in the state due to which a large number of roads and other infrastructure were damaged. Rawat estimated a loss of Rs 500-1,000 crore.

"We could not utilise the Budget because of the political upheavals in March-May," Congress Assembly member Rajkumar said. "Then there was monsoon misery, which halted development work. Now we have to pull our socks up."

In the past few months, agitations by hundreds of ad hoc wokers and government employees presented a new headache for the government. At least 6,000 guest teachers on contract are on strike along with 20,000 workers belonging to the Uttarakhand Purva Sainik Kalyan Nigam Limited. All of them are demanding regularisation of their jobs. But the government does not have money to regularise their pay.

The BJP is attacking the government over not creating four new districts - the previous government had issued notifications in 2011. Orders were issued for creating the districts of Kotdwar and Yamunotri in Garhwal and DD Haat and Ranikhet in Kumaon region. Facing a fund crunch, the government has not taken a decision yet.

The permanent capital issue continues to dog the Rawat government despite the building of a new Vidhan Sabha in Gairsain. Rawat has put the issue on the backburner.

The Congress is also divided on the issue of forging an alliance with the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF), an amalgamation of mostly independent Assembly members. Despite being a coalition partner in the government, PDF leaders say the Congress may not tie up with it. The state Congress has left the decision to the party high command.