In what would amount to a big boost to the Congress Government in Uttarakhand that is now nursing its wounds on the law and order front, the State Cabinet Minister Harish Chandra Durgapal, who was inducted into the Cabinet on the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) quota, may join the party on Tuesday.
If this happens it would help the present Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who is being pressured by his party colleagues to rid his Government of the PDF, to cut the rag-tag coalition to size. Ironically, Durgapal, who, on being denied Congress ticket from lalkuan constituency during the last Assembly election, entered the fray as an Independent candidate and won.
It would be pertinent to mention here that during the last Assembly election-2012, the Congress and the BJP had won 32 and 31 seats, respectively, in the 70- member Uttarakhand Assembly. Seven seats thus left out went to the kitty of the BSP (3), Independents (3) and the UKD -P (1). The Congress, short of a simple majority, formed the Government, bringing the seven MlAs on board.
Things remaining volatile, these seven MlAs had formed a PDF in 2012 to ward off blackmailing, bullying or horse-trading. Since then, they kept on projecting a united face as and when the situation warranted.
Meanwhile, a change of guard took place in February 2014 when Harish Rawat, who was a Union Cabinet Minister, assumed charge of the Government as the Chief Minister, elbowing out Vijay Bahuguna. Earlier, only four out of seven PDF members had enjoyed Cabinet berths during Bahuguna's regime. Ahead of the general election-2014, then Congress MP Satpal Maharaj switched over to the BJP. Subsequently, his wife Amrita Rawat, who was then enjoying a Cabinet berth, had to quit. She was replaced by another Independent MlA Dinesh Dhanai. With this, five of the seven PDF MlAs were inducted into the Cabinet. Mention worthy, the Congress has seven Cabinet berths, including the Chief Minister.
Meanwhile, Congress's position strengthened after it won three Assembly by-polls. The clean by-poll sweep helped the party to touch the magic figure of 36 on its own, albeit with the help of one nominated MlA. Thereafter, the Congress MlAs, especially those loyal to Bahuguna, started pressuring the CM Rawat to show PDF the door. The stance touched popular chord in the ruling party as PDF kept on baring fangs, fully milking the Government's vulnerability in terms of legislative number.
"Things would slowly unfold in the fast-changing matrix of the State's politics," an observer said.