The staggered panchayat elections in Haridwar slated to begin on December 21 are set to prove a litmus test for the popularity graph of the Chief Minister Harish Rawat. He has so far in course of his chequered tenure at the helm managed to weather the storms whenever they have gathered, throwing a gauntlet to his seeming supremacy.
Although the party is not contesting the Panchayat election under the party symbol-the rural polls are contested on apolitical basis-the ruling party is backing candidates. After the electioneering is over, it would be clear how many of the Congress-backed candidates win and how many of them lose. And this would be deemed as the yardstick to measure the credibility graph of the CM with the Assembly election slated in early 2017 drawing near.
Fully aware of the high stakes involved in the rural polls in politically crucial Haridwar district, Harish Rawat seems to be pulling up all stops to ensure that his party under his leadership comes out with flying colours, humbling the main rival BJP. Being in the thick of campaigning, he keeps visiting the district with lightning frequency, addressing countless meetings.
His detractors within the party are, however, keeping an eagle- eyed watch on every movement of the CM, waiting in the wings for the leader to slip. In case, the party loses the polls it would be equated with the personal defeat of Rawat and emboldened, if things happen this way, they would demand his scalp.
Importantly, the CM has been facing challenge to his throne more from within than from without. Those from the Vijay Bahuguna faction who are almost implacably hostile to him have been breathing down his neck from the first day he assumed charge from his predecessor Bahuguna that is on February 1, 2014. During general election-2014, Congress was drubbed as it lost all the five seats up for grabs to buoyant BJP riding high on the pro-Narendra Modi torrents. Rawat, however, stood his ground while the party was left to nurse its wounds, saying that the outcome did not reflect the people’s mood vis-à-vis the performance of his government.
He chose to keep a low profile during the Assembly by-poll from Doiwala held in July last year that was necessitated by the former Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank quitting it after getting elected to the lok Sabha. However, his entry into the Assembly was ensured with the sitting Dharchula MlA Pushkar Dhami vacating his seat to clear the decks for him to pitch in.
Finally, proving the naysayers wrong, the ruling party won all the three by-polls held simultaneously- Doiwala, Dharchula and Someshwar, hands down, humbling BJP the resignation of whose MlAs following the lok Sabha sweep had triggered the by-polls.
Triumphalism reigned in the CM’s camp as the outcome not just refurbished his image but managed to bring the party within striking range of securing absolute majority that had eluded it during the 2012 Assembly election, forcing it to go for allies to cobble up a majority for forming the government. The result of Bhagwanpur Assembly by-poll, held in April this year, brought the party the magic figure, ridding it of the compulsion to humour the mercurial allies.
However, the development brought in its wake a thorn in the CM’s flesh, as the pro- Bahuguna faction started mounting pressure on him to induct men loyal to the former CM after showing the doors to the six MlAs who comprise the ragtag coalition of disparate groups going under the name of Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) who have been occupying four out of 10 berths in the cabinet. As his wont, Rawat has been playing a dilatory game,
shuttling between Delhi and Dehradun while seemingly sitting on the demand. The wily Rawat has played another trick as he has roped in senior cabinet minister Indira Hridayesh as the minister in-charge of Haridwar district.
His acolytes say in case the party receives drubbing the share of the blame would be divided. However, things are unlikely to go this way, as the party is contesting the crucial round of rural election banking exclusively on the charisma and performance of the CM, says an observer.
“The blame would stick to him in case the party loses while the glory would be his if the party wins,” he adds.