As part of fire-fighting measure with the BJP leader Satpal Maharaj seemingly bent on luring some of his loyalist Congress MlAs over to the saffron camp, former Chief Minister Harish Rawat has ventured out to humour the sulking MlAs. Sources say he is dangling one vacant Cabinet berth-resulting from the demise of Surendra Rakesh- like a carrot to one of the Satpal loyalists Rajendra Bhandari, MlA from Badrinath, to keep him jelled to the Congress during the time of the crisis. Notably, Harish Rawat chose to keep things hang in balance despite the group loyal to Vijay Bahuguna demanding for long a cabinet reshuffle to fill the vacant berth.
However, Bhandari’s claim to a Cabinet berth is justified, given the fact that he had won the consecutive Assembly elections in 2007 and 2012 from the same constituency-first as an Independent and later as a Congress candidate. Besides, he was made a Cabinet minister after the 2007 election. later, in 2012, he joined Congress at the behest of his mentor Satpal Maharaj and won the seat again. But the cabinet berth eluded him that time because of the compulsions inherent in the plight of the Congress because of a fractured 2012 mandate. PDF was roped in to help the government survive. PDF MlAs were inducted in the cabinet while many of the Congress aspirants were left out in the cold.
Embattled Harish Rawat is said to have assured the MlA that in case he survives the floor test whenever it is held he would induct at least two fresh faces in the cabinet. Harak Singh Rawat walking out of the ministry along with eight other rebel MlAs has increased the scope of his maneuverability as he has presently two berths to dangle to the sulking MlAs to foil the BJP bid to wreck him further from within.
Congress insiders said things are really scary for them with Satpal Maharaj going the whole hog to poach his loyalist MlAs when a floor test is staring the party in the face. “Rawat resorting to fire-fighting initiatives is justified as further loss of MlAs from the Congress camp would help BJP to spite our chance to survive the impending floor test. However, such initiatives would cut ice or not is a matter of conjecture,” said a Congress leader privy to the developments.
Political analysts, however, say that Harish Rawat is a past master in the art of survival. “He gives assurances without setting a deadline. His loyalists do not doubt his sincerity. If things are delayed they ascribe it to his compulsions. But now, when his chips are down, one wonders whether his time-tested strategy of keeping MlAs on tenterhooks would yield the same results or not. The crisis would rather deepen further if the court rejects disqualification of the nine rebel MlAs,” said one of the State observers. Another analyst says Harish Rawat would have to fine tune the conflicting aspirations of two divisions-Kumaon and Garhwal-while new-making or expanding his cabinet in case he wins the floor test. “Notably, Congress has 21 MlAs from Garhwal and 15 from Kumaon. And among the nine rebels, three- Vijay Bahuguna, Singhal and Amrita Rawat-represent Kumaon while the rest six are representing Garhwal division. This means that with the departure of six MlAs- Subodh Uniyal, Harak Singh Rawat, Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion, Shaila Rani Rawat, Pradeep Batra and Umesh Sharma Kau-the number of MlAs representing Garhwal has been reduced to 15 while that of Kumaon has come down to 12 following the departure of three MlAs. Before the rebellion occurred, there were six Cabinet ministers from the Congress - Harak Singh Rawat, Indira Hridayesh, Yashpal Arya, Surendra Singh Negi, Preetam Singh and Dinesh Aggrawal. It means that four of them hail from Garhwal. Now, things are tricky with the difference between the two regions having narrowed down to one in terms of cabinet strength. Now, it is expected, as the political analysts say that those from Kumaon would pressure Harish Rawat to induct MlAs from the region into the cabinet.
Now, eyes are focused on the Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal who is one of close confidantes of Harish Rawat. He was favoured with the chair at the behest of Harish Rawat when Vijay Bahuguna was sworn in as the CM in 2012. As things stand now, it would prove terribly difficult for Rawat to fine-tune things if he survives the floor test, given the schism existing between the two regions and the fast-changing political equations involving the MlAs of the party.