War of words raging between the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP over the status of Gairsain as the permanent or the summer capital of the State, both the rival camps are out to outsmart each other in flaunting their support to the cause of the capital shift.
While the Congress is going the whole hog to impress the people of the hills, strongly favouring the capital shift, on its sincerity for the cause BJP, on the other hand, has decided to bring Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu at Gairsain during the Parivartan Yatra to prove that they are more sincere than their rival party to bring things to the logical conclusion.
Notably, the former chief minister and ex-MlA of the Congress now the BJP — Vijay Bahuguna held the first cabinet meeting at Gairsain held in 2012 and he laid the foundation stones of the Vidhan Sabha and MlA hostel buildings while holding the second cabinet meeting in this small mountain town of Chamoli district in January 2013.
On becoming the CM in February 1, 2014, Rawat decided to carry things on, convinced as he was of the immense electoral potential loaded in the matter for the mountains of the State. “Though he was inimical to his predecessor he did not hesitate to take things forward from where Bahuguna left with a gusto in an attempt to endear himself to the electorate of the mountains,” an observer said.
Determined to milk it politically, Harish Rawat had three sessions convened at Gairsain since the time he took up the reins of the State Government. Now he has decided that he would also have budget session at Gairsain. As it is known that the budget session decide line and length of the state because it approves treasury bench budget. If the State Government fails to pass their budget then government falls so this announcement has more hidden appeal.
BJP’s role on the matter is a little murky despite the party trying now hard to wrest the initiative from the ruling Congress. It is known that the party conveniently shoved the emotive matter of the shift of the capital from the plains to the mountains under the carpet by tabling the report of the Dixit Commission which opined against the shift of the capital from Dehradun.
Seeing Rawat going ahead towards the consummation, step by step, the Opposition BJP fell back on a strategy to corner him by demanding the Government to come clear on its stance on the capital shift issue. However, the crafty Harish Rawat has been refusing to be trapped, as he is wary of losing support in the plains.
In the just concluded Vidhan Sabha session held at Gairsain, BJP pressurised the state government again to declare the mountain town either as the permanent or the summer capital of the state and Harish Rawat refused to be bowled, insisting that things were being taken to the consummation without committing himself to any definite stance.
“However, one thing is clear that the CM would try to woo the electorate of the mountains by flaunting the infrastructure his Government has been building there to clear decks for the final announcement. He is now in a position to turn the table of the BJP which, during a session in 2014, mocked at the State Government, saying that they had tried to locate the foundation stone of the Assembly in vain. The BJP MlAs did not go for such sarcasm again after they were provided with appropriate accommodation and food in the sessions that followed it,” said a Congress insider.
Aware of the fact that their arch rival would use the issue up to the hilt, BJP has decided to rope in the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to address a Parivartan Yatra rally at Gairsain on November 24. It is expected that he would make an announcement regarding the planned Rishikesh-Karnprayag railway line, which was approved by the UPA Government, to make the situation more favourable for the BJP in the mountainous regions.