As soon as the poll results of five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand are announced, the State politics will take another plunge—to drive Chief Minister Harish Rawat-led Congress government out of the seat of power, as indicators in the state capital point out. Besides, the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) leader Mantri Prasad Naithani, half a dozen other Congress MLAs are angry with the CM due to his vindictive behaviour.
Soon after Rawat took over as the chief minister in Dehradun, he rubbed many Cabinet colleagues on wrong side, including—Indira Hridesh, Yashpal Arya, Amrita Rawat, Harak Singh Rawat, Mantri Prasad Naithani, Preetam Singh Panwar, Surendra Rakesh, and an MLA Haridas due to various reasons. As a result of his machinations, Surendra Rakesh and Haridas were expelled from (BSP) by the party supremo Mayawati, and the sitting Pauri MP Shri Satpal Maharaj also left Congress to join BJP in presence of its national president Shri Rajnath Singh.
During the entire election campaigning, Harish Rawat and his Cabinet colleagues remained engaged in internecine cat-and-dog fight. Harish Rawat had rivalry with all BSP MLAs due to his vote-bank politics over Muslims, and Dalits. A Congress MLA from Khanpur in Hardwar district Kunwar Pranav Singh, a Harish Rawat loyalist, had many times insulted and humiliated Surendra Rakesh. A vindictive Harish Rawat also had planned to hit Surendra Rakesh and Haridas, where it hurts the most politically. As Surendra Rakesh held the Ministry of Social Welfare and Transport, Harish Rawat threatened to spill beans about the corruption cases in both these ministries. First, Surendra Rakesh had given jobs to his Dalit followers in Uttarakhand Roadways and the Social Welfare Department flouting norms.
Once, Harish Rawat was toying with the idea of dropping Surendra Rakesh from his Cabinet, and to bring in his party colleague Sharbat Karim Ansari as the new minister in order to set both of them against one another.
Now with Harish Rawat’s wife Renuka Rawat contesting Lok Sabha polls from Haridwar, the loyalty of BSP MLA Sharbat Karim Ansari remained divided between his own party candidate and Renuka Rawat. As for Surendra Rakesh and Haridas, both of them did their best to ensure her defeat.
— Arvind Kumar
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