The spectacular mandate throwing 57 MlAs, including some heavyweights, in the 70-member House seems to have put enormous pressure on the State Bharatiya Janata Party when it comes to forming the Cabinet. The party insiders admit that resolving the problem of plenty while accommodating the newly elected legislators in the Cabinet is indeed a Herculean task for the party top brass.
The meeting of the BJP legislature party is likely to be held on Thursday in Dehradun to elect the new leader of the House who would assume charge as the next Chief Minister of the State. Two senior leaders would also be present during the meeting as Central observers.
The BJP has won 80 percent of the Vidhan Sabha seats in the state with a majority of them having remained MlAs for several terms in the past. Among them are the Congress ‘turncoats’ who switched to BJP either by quitting the Harish Rawat government or quitting the party in annoyance with Harish Rawat choosing to sit on the matter of their induction in the cabinet. As Harak Singh Rawat and Yashpal Arya quit the cabinet before switching to the saffron ship two of the rebels- Subodh Uniyal and Dr Shailendra Mohan Singhal-both loyal to the former CM Vijay Bahuguna, deserted Congress with the then CM Harish Rawat apparently sleeping on the matter of their induction in the cabinet. Incidentally, Uniyal retained his Narendra Nagar seat while Singhal lost from Jaspur.
Observers say that at least two of the Congress rebels- Uniyal and Harak Singh Rawat- should be inducted in the cabinet, given their importance in the Congress.
As per the constitutional amendment, 15 percent of the strength of the Assembly can be at the most inducted in cabinet, making it clear that 11 MlAs can be accommodated. This seems to have narrowed room for the new CM for much maneuvering. However, the advantage is that the party high command in total command of things has made dissent a difficult proposition in the present scenario. A BJP insider says that the party’s national leadership, focused as it is on maximum delivery on the ground, would act ruthlessly to stifle dissent.
As things stand now, the prospects of two MlAs- Swami Yatiswarand and Rajesh Shukla-who have carved names for them in the annals of the state’s electoral history by inflicting humiliating defeat on the chief minister Harish Rawat-are bright as far as their accommodation the cabinet is concerned.
Besides, there is a host of MlAs who are all formidable enough to be kept at bay. Among them are Banshidhar Bhagat, Madan Kaushik, Premchand Aggarwal, Yashpal Arya, Kuman Pranav Singh Champion, Harbans kapoor, Arvind Pandey and Harbhajan Singh Cheema. Many of them have to their credit several innings in the Assemblies.
This aside, there are two Prakash Pant and Trivendra Singh Rawat, who are in race of the chief ministership. They must be accommodated in the cabinet with important portfolios in case they are not favoured with the most coveted post.