Assembly Elections 2012: Congress may pick Uttrakhand CM with 2014 in mind

New Delhi: With exit polls setting off a brainstorming over the future state leadership , the Congress is likely to decide the chief minister of Uttarakhand based on who can consolidate its gains for the 2014 battle.
While the Congress expects a comfortable tally in the assembly polls, the party is beset with lobbying from warring groups, each peddling its own USP from caste to gender to region.

The Congress, however, is likely to focus on the big picture , keen as it is to balance local compulsions with its national concerns. “We won all five seats in the Lok Sabha . But in 2014, we are already looking at losses in key states and will have to save every possible seat. That will be a big factor in deciding who should lead Uttarakhand,” a key party leader said.

While the Congress has contenders like its three MPs (Vijay Bahuguna from Tehri, Satpal Maharaj from Pauri and Harish Rawat from Haridwar ) and state leaders like Indira Hridyesh and state unit chief Yashpal Arya and leader of opposition Harak Singh Rawat, sources said the leadership may have looked at projecting Harish Rawat for the top state job by making him the only minister at the Centre.

The need to balance local and national concerns, with 2014 in focus, is set to intensify lobbying in a post-win scenario on Tuesday. Sources said it would be a huge task to placate rival camps, which are daggers drawn most of the time, and to whom the leadership stressed the importance of unity in the runup to the polls.

The tough job of picking up a leader, despite the tiny size of the state, stems from its geographical diversity and social heterogeneity, all of which miraculously fell in place for the Congress to sweep the state in the Lok Sabha polls.

Sources said the post-poll scenario, even if the party wins, would not be easy since the BJP too would be working with 2014 in mind. BJP’s aggressive charge with B C Khanduri as mascot is likely to continue the pressure on the Congress.