Dehradun-State BJP president Teerath Singh Rawat’s tenure ending this month, the race to occupy the coveted post has been gaining momentum fast. The election is deemed crucial as the State would have the crucial Assembly election in the first half of 2017. The ruling Congress has already started gearing up for the upcoming hustings with the Chief Minister Harish Rawat, as the general of the brigade, going the whole hog of wooing the electorate with plethora of developmental promises. To make things worse for the principal Opposition party, it has been grappling hard with the intra-factional squabbling with a number of heavyweights pulling strings in opposing directions.
The party insiders say that the next president must be an astute politician with a vast array of experiences in the twists and turns of the electoral behaviour. “Region and caste are factors that can swing things this way and the other. The next State party president must adroitly fine-tune the aspirations of the two principal castes- Thakur, comprising around 40 per cent of the electorate and Brahmins being around 20 per cent of the population, and also of the two regions- Garhwal and Kumaon. This is not an easy task with the ruling Congress pulling out all the stops to endear itself to the mutually exclusive interests of the castes and regions with aplomb,” a senior State BJP leader said while insisting on anonymity.
Things are serious for BJP with as many as three former Chief Ministers- Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Maj Gen Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri and Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, seemingly inimical to one another- having made it clear that they are very much in the race for the chief ministership. They are presently sitting MPs from Udham Singh Nagar, Garhwal and Haridwar respectively. However, BJP being a regimented party, the high command would take the final call whether it would project any face for the chair during the electioneering. However, chances are high that it would go the Bihar way, despite the drubbing, of presenting a collective face instead of showcasing one. “There is no such option for presenting a single, unanimous face as that would exacerbate the inner dissension gnawing at the State unit,” said a political observer.
As things stand now, the party should play a game of tight- rope balance, say the observers. If the next party president is a Thakur the party must prop up a Brahmin face for the chair of the Chief Minister to egg the community to join its side.
There are three young leaders- former cabinet minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, sitting MlA Pushkar Singh Dhami and state BJP general secretary Dhan Singh Rawat - who are staking their claims for the post of the State party chief. Interestingly, the first two- Trivendra and Dhami- are known as close confidantes of Koshyari. The third of the trio- Dhan Singh Rawat Rawat-is supposed to have good rapport with the RSS brass. However, his chances are not much as he lost Srinagar Assembly seat to the Congress candidate Ganesh Godiyal during the last Assembly elction-2012. “But still his name is doing the rounds, given support from RSS, BJP’s ideological mentor,” said a party insider.
The electoral track record of Trivendra Singh Rawat is not good either. He served the party as Jharkhand election in-charge and as the party’s national secretary aside from holding a Cabinet post in the BJP ministry between 2007 and 20012. But he was humbled in the 2012 Assembly election by his Congress rival Umesh Sharma alias Kau.
Sources say that during the electioneering of Jharkhand, he won the confidence of the present BJP president Amit Shah. “This makes his chance a bit brighter vis-à-vis the other two contestant,” say sources.
However, Dhami , known as the adopted son of Koshyari, is very much in the reckoning. He had acted as the State BJP youth wing and won the Assembly election-2012 from Khatima constituency. “With the party favouring a young face to lead it from the front, he is being considered as a front runner,” commented a State BJP watcher.
As for the CM face to be projected if things warrant so, three Brahmins- leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Ajay Bhatt, BJP national spokesperson Anil Baluni Prakash and Suman Dhyani who has been recently removed from the post of the State party spokesperson are in the race.
Ajay Bhatt, who served the state as the health minister during the interim government, is currently leading the BJP legislatures in the Assembly, often locking horns with the CM on emotive issues like Gairsain being declared as the permanent capital of the State. Incumbent national spokesperson Baluni has developed strong support base in the party top brass based in Delhi. “Things are thus murky in the BJP with a few months left for the election while the ruling Congress is in the thick of taking up the challenge head on under the undisputed leadership of Harish Rawat,” said an observer.