True, Harish Rawat has reasons to rejoice over his reinstatement as the Chief Minister. True again, he has weathered the storm that swept over the political landscape of the State for over two and a half months, the most tumultuous phase of the five-decade-long chquered political career of the redoubtable Congress leader from the State. However, the observers warn that the crown he has donned again might prove to be a crown of thorns unless he takes lessons from the sordid past and chart out a new course while negotiating the treacherous pitfalls that lurk in his road ahead.
First and foremost, the observers say, he will have to rid his government of those who have proved unproductive in terms of rising up to the challenge of fulfilling the soaring developmental aspirations of the people. There are many who are dispensable and who must be shown the door to help the more efficient get in. “Harish Rawat must remember that he has not much time left to deliver on the promises he has rolled out before the election is announced,” said one of them.
Besides, he must new-make his image that has got a severe dent with his detractors having laid bare how money-laundering has been going on at the behest of the government he led. Two sting CDs might have failed to cut ice with the judiciary, but they are lethal weapons in the hands of the Opposition nonetheless. They would use them up to the hilt to show him as a scam-tainted CM, pampering those who are looting the State with impunity, observers say.
This aside, the Congress high command is not all too pleased with the autocratic style of functioning that defined the Harish Rawat regime. They might have lent him their full support as the case of defending him proved to be one of one-upmanship against the Narendra Modi government. But the game having been won, Harish Rawat must mellow and be accommodating to the dissenters. The Congress top brass can hardly wish away the fact that as many as ten MlAs have deserted the party, attributing their desertions to the autocracy allegedly unleashed by Harish Rawat.
There is little doubt that though now nursing its wounds in the aftermath of the floor test debacle, BJP would be more vociferous than ever against the Harish Rawat regime to keep its moorings erect and to motivate the rank and file to fight the regime tooth and nail. “With the bugle of election likely to be blown soon, the BJP would have all its knives out. Harish Rawat must achieve much on the front of development which would show itself on the ground to take the wind out of the saffron sails,” said an observer.
It is clear that the nine rebels would test the electoral water in the upcoming election. BJP would lend them full support. It is thus crucial how the party and particularly, Harish Rawat would take them head-on. There is no scope for rapprochement with the leadership choosing to retain Harish Rawat as the leader of the party in the State.
“Friends who have turned foes are infinitely more dangerous than the ordinary foes. They would bare all their fangs to finish Harish Rawat off politically,” said an observer.
Another thing that dented Harish Rawat’s credibility as the head of the State government is his inclination to be surrounded by downright sycophants. It is now clear that one of them was instrumental, albeit inadvertently, in the first sting CD episode that enmeshed Harish Rawat in the trap to wriggle out of which would prove difficult for him with CBI breathing down upon his necks. “Such foolish friends are more dangerous than intelligent enemies,” said an observer.