Amidst embers smoldering in the ruling Congress and its ally PDF, former MP Pradeep Tamta filed his nomination papers as the Congress candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha poll on Tuesday.
However, to show that there is no crack inside his house, Chief Minister Harish Rawat went to meet the Ministers, particularly those who are supposed to be sulking, during the time of nomination filing process. Tamta presented his papers to the returning officer in the presence of the media.
Adding a new twist to the RS drama, two BJP leaders Geeta Thakur and Anil Goel filed their nomination papers as independent candidates almost at the last moment of the nomination filing process. Notably, BJP had decided not to contest, citing that they had not the requisite number to pull its candidate through, sending the observers wonder why the saffron party had chosen to give the Congress a veritable walkover. However, two of its members filing nomination as independents have made it clear that it would not let Congress breathe easy.
Among those who accompanied Tamta on behalf of the Congress and its ally PDF to the office of the returning officer were State Congress president Kishore Upadhyay, cabinet ministers- Indira Hridayesh, Yashpal Arya, Dinesh Aggarwal and Dinesh Dhanai- aside from the CM himself.
It might be recalled that after the party high command cleared Tamta’s name Cabinet Minister Yashpal Arya had vented his strong resentment. Besides, cracks had surfaced in PDF too as the front projected Dinesh Dhanai as a candidate for the Upper House seat. They had said that their candidate would remain in the fray unless the Congress top brass withdrew Tamta to pave way for the PDF candidate to sail through. They had cited the fact that the Harish Rawat government would have fallen but for their support they lent to it during the crucial floor test.
However, things appeared to have subsided thanks to CM Rawat’s manipulative skill and the party high command lending its full weight behind him.
Tamta is supposed to be an errand boy for the CM, says the observers. “Aside from being a die-hard supporter of the CM, he has won reputation as a silent worker who douses fire in time before it engulfs the edifice,” said an observer.
Rawat played things well to humour the sulking Arya into compliance as the administration appointed his two cronies-Brajesh Sant and Anant Shankar Takwale-as Udham Singh Nagar DM and SSP respectively. Things happened the same way with Dinesh Dhanai too. The Minister was supposed to have a running a feud with the incumbent DM of Tehri. He is learnt to have asked the CM to transfer elsewhere. CM acted in the nick of time and appointed Indudhar Boudai as the new DM of the district to bring broad smile on the dissenter’s face.
However, BJP’s stance has surprised many in the political circles. Talking to The Pioneer, State BJP president Ajay Bhatt said that they had earlier chalked out a strategy, keeping in view the fact that PDF Minister Dinesh Dhanai had announced to contest the RS election. “But we beat a retreat after he surrendered to the machinations of Harish Rawat,” he added.
Political analysts say that the saffron party gathering its MlAs to support the candidature of its two leaders as independents indicated that the party brass in Delhi did not green-light the state unit to give the party symbol to the two candidates.
However, significantly, State BJP president Ajay Bhatt, vice-president Pushkar Singh Dhami and chief whip Madan Kaushik along with other MlAs turned up at the returning officer’s room to show solidarity behind two BJP-backed candidates.