After landing in Dehradun on Thursday for the first time since the political crisis engulfed the State on March 18, the nine rebel Congress MlAs have thrown broad hints that they might switch back to the Congress if the party High Command removes the sacked Chief Minister from the State party's leadership.
They got into a huddle at the residence of Vijay Bahuguna's residence in the city on their return to Dehradun to deliberate on their future course of action in view of the continuing crisis staring at the State.
Though short of revealing their future strategy, they hinted that they are not averse to going back to the Congress if the party's national top brass shows the deposed CM the door, said a party insider.
Firing a fresh salvo against Rawat, the dissidents said Rawat was squarely responsible for the mess the State and the party have plunged in. "The Speaker also turned autocratic like a narrow-minded factional politician. We had no other option but to revolt," one of the renegade MlAs said.
One of the rebel MlAs, Dr Shailendra Mohan Singhal, said the Rawat Government had trampled the democratic norms.
"The appropriation Bill remained un-passed with 35 MlAs ganging against the passage of the budget sans division of votes landed the State in unprecedented constitutional crisis. This led to the President's Rule. Thereafter, the sting video showing Rawat at his horse-trading game was enough to spell doom for him," he said.
Another rebel MlA said that they were looking forward to the High Court to nullify the Speaker's act of disqualifying them in contravention of the norms.
They reiterated that they were united rock-like. "The decision we would take in the coming days would be unanimous," one of them said.
Taking a dig at his bête noir, Vijay Bahuguna said that he has been facing what is called poetic justice. "Through taking recourse to diabolical acts, Rawat seems to have angered his nine planets (navgrahs)," he sarcastically quipped.