Ten dissident MlAs who had switched to BJP after being disqualified by Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal on March 27 are facing the heat of things with a section of the State BJP leaders and workers remaining strongly disinclined to leave space for them regarding the 10 Assembly seats they represented.
Despite the party high command having seemingly made up its mind to give the new entrants tickets for the seats they were elected during the 2012 election, some leaders and workers are pressuring the State party brass to bestow the favour on those who have been working hard for the party over the past five years or more.
“The party stands identified with us as the people are seeing us toiling and sweating for the party for years, braving all odds. Now, the party planning to parachute the new entrants to contest from these seats is unfair and demoralising for us,” said a leader hailing from one of the 10 constituencies, which have become apple of discords ahead of the election.
The State BJP insiders say that it is wrong to think that the party’s top brass has already resolved on giving party tickets to the 10 former Congress rebels. “Things are still in a flux with a strong possibility that the first time MlAs among the new entrants, excluding Umesh Sharma Kau, would not be given the party nominations. They might be accommodated in several committees attached to the Union government,” said a BJP leader insisting on anonymity.
Meanwhile, the State party machinery is engaged in keeping the party united ahead of the ticket announcement exercise. To keep the gaping fissures under control over the issue of nomination, the State BJP president Ajay Bhatt has been consistently saying that things are still in a flux with the party’s top brass far from taking a final call on the matter of the ten Congress dissidents being favoured with the party nominations.
“This is definitely a ploy to keep all tethered to the party till the final moment. However, how things would unfurl after the party announces nomination is a matter of conjecture,” said a State BJP watcher.
Sources say that the ruling Congress is firming up its calculations in anticipation of turmoil in the BJP after the nominations are announced. Sources say that the ruling Congress might allure Omgopal who had defeated the Congress candidate Subodh Uniyal by less than 10 votes during 2007 Assembly election on UKD ticket from Narendranagar constituency and was defeated by a small margin by the same Uniyal in 2012 election. The logic behind such a conjecture is solid, given the possibility that BJP would bestow the party ticket on Uniyal who is one of the 10 Congress rebels, now in the BJP. In case such a thing happens, Omgopal might give Unityal a run for his money while contesting the election as a Congress candidate.
Similarly, the former MlA from Roorkee Suresh Jain who had lost the seat to the Congress candidate Pradeep Batra during the Assembly election-2012, may be lured by the Congress. The ruling party has got considerably weakened in the seat following the switch of Batra, one of the rebels, to BJP.
The same is the case with Kedarnath seat. In case the BJP gives Shailarani Rawat, one of the disqualified MlAs, now in BJP, the nomination the Congress might try to hook Asha Nautiyal, who was defeated by Rawat while contesting as a BJP candidate in 2012 election.
However, things are still murky with the State BJP continuing to mystify things by flaunting the high command as the final arbiter of the nomination exercise. The Congress appears to be waiting in the wings to spring into the scene at the appropriate time once BJP takes the final call.