By further cornering the former Chief Minister, Vijay Bahuguna, who was jockeying hard for Rajya Sabha ticket for himself, and making his confidante Manorma Dobriyal Sharma the candidate, Chief Minister Harish Rawat has re-asserted his supremacy over the party affairs in the State.
Ensuring ticket for Manorma, Rawat has once again made it crystal clear that he is in the driver's seat not just in the Government but also in the affairs of the party in the State. That he was in the good books of the Congress High Command was proved beyond any shadow of doubt when he succeeded in foisting his another crony Kishore Upadhyaya as the State party chief. This happened in June this year immediately after the 'historic' three-day-long Assembly session at Gairsain.
Sources said it amounted to a major setback to the faction loyal to Vijay Bahuguna, who had to quit as the Chief Minister to make way for the then Union Cabinet Minister Harish Rawat in February last. Since then, Bahuguna had been sulking and striving hard to rehabilitate himself in the State party. However, the High Command seemed to have left him in the lurch again as he was elbowed out of the race for the Rajya Sabha seat.
Significantly, the party's point man for the State, Ambika Soni, came to Dehradun recently for two days to gauge the mood of the party's leadership and the rank and file. Rawat then lost no time in rushing to Delhi along with the heads of the local bodies and cooperative committees. Two days after, the Congress High Command came out with the announcement for the solitary Rajya Sabha seat.
Observers said the wily Rawat had hit on another crafty trick to bamboozle his bête noir Bahuguna. He was supposed to have used some MlAs close to him, including the Speaker, Govind Singh Kunjwal, and Cabinet Minister Surendra Singh Negi, to pitch in the scene and to bat for Bahuguna's candidature. Another Cabinet Minister, Harak Singh Rawat, also lent support to the former Chief Minister. That begot a false hope in him and those close to him that his graph was ascending fast in the party affairs.