Uttarakhand may go for mid-term Assembly poll sometime in 2016 instead of 2017, say those close to the Chief Minister Harish Rawat.
Though Congress high command is yet to be brought on the same page with the CM on the matter, Rawat is intent on advancing the crucial polls by several months, they say.
“He is determined to go to elections after announcing to implement the Seventh Pay Commission in the State,” said a confidante of the CM.
The party MlAs seem to have got wind of what is cooking and have started going the whole hog of facing the electorate sooner than scheduled. The enormous banners being put up by them are standing testimony to their taking the plunge in the upcoming democratic engagement of the State.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna who is deemed to the CM’s bête noir has thrown his gauntlet, saying that CM would be held squarely responsible in case the party faces debacle at the hustings. For he has been leading the party and the government as his personal fiefdom, Bahuguna said to his confidantes.
Referring to the issue of lokayukta, he said the State government refraining from appointing lokayukta reflects the State in bad light. “We had earlier blamed Gujarat on this issue. Now, we are being seen on the same page,” he is quoted by sources as saying.
On the other side of the spectrum, the MlA from Raipur Umesh Sharma Kau has had a huge board put up at the intersection of four lanes at Rispana bridge on Tuesday.
Pictures of the CM, former CM Vijay Bahuguna, State PCC president Kishore Upadhyay, former State PCC president Yashpal Arya and Kau figure there, a interesting mélange of muddled loyalties in the murky Congress politics.
Talking to The Pioneer, Kau defended the composite picture, saying that all that figure in it are entitled to have places there.
“The cabinet minister Yashpal Arya is in-charge of Dehradun district, Upadhyaya is state party president, Bahuguna is former CM and Harish Rawat will lead the team in the electoral battle,” he said.
Sources said that the CM started asserting his supremacy in the party and the government since the day he had taken the oath. “His opting for an Innova in his fleet instead of Ambassador revealed his mindset. Besides, his frequent flying over chopper across the length and breadth of the State has made it clear that he is most reluctant to be pent up within the confines of the capital. For, he knows he must spread wings to survive,” a party insider said .
The dissidents say things for the Congress are not as rosy as is being flaunted. “Heavily mauled in the general election-2014, the party has not sufficiently regained ground enough to win the upcoming Assembly election hands down. “This is the reason why the CM is baking heavily on the en masse support of the State government employees who constitute over the 20 percent of the electorate. He is waiting, his eyes trained on the Centre’s move on the Seventh Pay Commission. Once the Centre takes the call he is likely to seize the opportunity with alacrity and announce the hiked pay for the State government employees. Following this, he is most likely to go for mid-term election on the consideration that he would romp back home, riding piggyback of the pampered government employees’ support. However, in case his ploy fails on the political sweepstakes he would let the next government face the music regarding the implementation of the recommendation the Seventh Pay Commission recommendation would proffer,” a ruling party insider said.