Battle for Uttarakhand: Harish Rawat main hurdle for BJP

NEW DELHI: After the bitter acrimony with Congress in the wake of attempts to topple its government in Uttarkhand a few months ago, BJP will focus its election campaign in the hill state on targeting CM Harish Rawat through its Parivartan Yatras that will be launched by party chief Amit Shah this Sunday.

Shah will address a public meeting at Dehradun on November 13 and then flag off two BJP yatras that will cover all the 70 Assembly constituencies by December 7 when they culminate in Haldwani. Shah will be present on the last day as well. A big meeting will be organized at Almora when the yatra reaches there on November 22.

BJP sources said the party’s campaign will be centered on attacking Rawat, who is now virtually unrivalled within the Congress as his prominent detractors within the party have now quit and joined the saffron brigade. BJP plans to attack Rawat for alleged corruption and this will be the thrust of the party campaign against the Congress.

The opposition is also likely to play the Brahmin card. The Rajputs and Brahmins do not get along well in the hill state and BJP is playing this up. The party claims there are differences between Rawat (a Rajput) and Congress state unit president Kishore Upadhyay (a Brahmin). However, Rawat’s popularity is a major challenge for the BJP. His connect with the people is admirable and BJP is wary of it. Moreover, Rawat has been playing the victim card since BJP made a failed attempt early this year to topple his government by engineering defections.

Rawat is also known as a shrewd politician who can turn the tables on his opponents in no time. Interestingly, eight of the ten Congress defectors are from the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand that sends 41 legislators to the 70-member Assembly. Since Rawat is from Kumaon, BJP is optimistic that it will bag a chunk of the seats in Garhwal with the help of the rebels and by claiming the chief minister has ignored this region’s development.

For BJP, former Chief Minister B C Khanduri is the most popular face but the octogenarian leader is not keeping good health. This has forced BJP not to declare a CM candidatethere are four former CMs in BJP now, including Rawat’s predecessor Vijay Bahuguna- and go for polls under a “collective leadership”.