Desertions haunt Congress in Uttarakhand, UP

Rocked by desertions of senior leaders in Uttarakhand, the Congress high command is witnessing a repeat of what happened in Haryana and Assam, where aided by Congress’ disgruntled representatives, the Bharatiya Janata Party was able to come to power in the two states on its own strength. The BJP has occupied pole position in the hill state, particularly after immensely popular Congress leader and its Dalit face Yashpal Arya severed his 40-year association and jumped over to the BJP in the presence of president Amit Shah and former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

Miffed over the denial of ticket from the Nainital (Scheduled Caste) seat to his son, Yashpal Arya, who is MLA from Bajpur, decided to part company with the Congress on being prodded by Vijay Bahuguna and declined to take calls from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who swung into a damage control mode in an attempt to salvage the situation. Sources said that there were multiple missed calls on Arya’s phone from Priyanka, but Bahuguna ensured that Arya did not respond to the last minute overtures and instead brought him to meet Shah.

Bahuguna, who had led a revolt of Congress leaders in the state after Harish Rawat replaced him as the Chief Minister, is likely to