The swearing-in of Trivendra Singh Rawat as the ninth Chief Minister of Uttarakhand has marked two ‘firsts’. He is the first CM of the State since it was formed in 2000 who hails from the plains and again, it is for the first time that an MlA has been picked as the CM.
Observers say that the hill-plain divide casting shadows on the trajectory of the State’s politics with those from the hills adoring the top job of the State in course of its chequered career of nearly 17 years, an MlA from the plains, comprising three districts— Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar-being elected to helm the Government would open a new chapter in the hill-plain discourse. Trivendra Singh Rawat has been elected from Doiwala constituency in Haridwar district.
Interestingly, one of the CMs of the State Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank who was elected from Thalisain constituency in Pauri district had persuaded then Doiwala MlA and Cabinet Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat to leave the seat for him to contest from after Thalisain seat was abolished following the delimitation-2008. Besides, a large swathe of Doiwala constituency from where Rawat was elected twice in 2002 and 2007 being merged in Raipur constituency had prodded him to shift to Raipur seat. Things happening thick and fast in the political trajectory of the State , Maj Gen Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri was reappointed as the CM for the second term in 2011, replacing Dr Nishank. Dr Nishank, however, managed to win the Doiwala seat in the 2012 Assembly election. But it came to nothing as BJP was voted out of power.
After the 2012 election, Congress formed the Government with the Tehri MP Vijay Bahuguna at the helm. Bahuguna later sought election from Sitarganj seat during a by-poll held later in the same year. Change of guard happened again in 2014 when the then Union minister Harish Rawat took the reins. He later won an Assembly by-election from Dharchula, necessitated by the Congress MlA Harish Dhami vacating the seat to help his mentor Harish Rawat to step in.
Earlier, ND Tiwari who became the CM after Congress won the first Assembly election of the State in 2002 was also elected to the Assembly through a by-election months after he took charge as the CM. Maj Gen BC Khanduri was an MP when he became the CM and stepped into the Assembly through a by-poll from Dhumakot.
The BJP activists from the plains sounded jubilant after an MlA from the plains was picked as the CM for the first time in the history of Uttarakhand.
They say that their party being adept in experimental politics, the latest one would stand the party in good stead with the plains accounting for so many seats being honoured this way.
Political analysts opine the same, saying that the rupture from the tradition of the ruling party winning larger chunk of seats from the plains and awarding Chief Ministership to one from the hills would help BJP further consolidate its hold on the plains at the expense of the Congress.