Rifts emerge within Cong over CM face
DEHRADUN: Weeks after Congress national general secretary Harish Rawat urged the central leadership to declare a chief ministerial face for the state assembly elections in 2022, some senior party leaders have pitched for Rawat to be the CM candidate.
During a media interaction, Rawat had asked the central leadership to announce a CM candidate to “bring clarity and end confusion among the party workers in the state.”
Uttarakhand Congress unit president Pritam Singh and leader of Opposition Indira Hridayesh tried to play it down, saying the party would fight the elections under a “collective leadership.” But many party leaders have made it clear that Rawat be named the CM face for the state polls.
“The only candidate for CM in the Congress for 2022 is Harish Rawat as he is the widely accepted leader in the state; no other leader comes close to his stature,” Govind Singh Kunjwal, senior MLA from Jageshwar constituency in Almora, said a few days ago in Haldwani at an event for launching a folk song on Rawat.
Rajya Sabha MP from Almora Pradeep Tamta told the media on Saturday, “Rawat is the only national leader from Uttarakhand Congress. There is an anti-BJP sentiment among the public. To capitalise on that and defeat the BJP, it is important to declare the party’s CM face for 2022.”
Political experts say Rawat as a seasoned politician is cleverly playing his cards before the elections.
“This whole game started about three months ago when party leaders and MLAs close to Rawat held a press conference in Haldwani declaring him as the only face for the CM post if the party wins 2022 elections,” said SMA Kazmi who has been keeping an eye on the state politics for the last two decades.
“Also, the ground reality is that he is the only leader in the party who has a statewide public outreach. He also knows that if the party wins, the only name that would come forward for CM will be his. But he wants to make that clear well before the polls are held.”
Kazmi claimed that by pushing his name for the CM candidate, Rawat is trying to play two cards at a time. “First, by doing so he wants to steer the elections which would give him an upper hand in giving tickets to the candidates of his choice. Secondly, if party wins, he would say that as the elections were fought under him, he would be the CM.”
MM Semwal, professor of political science in Garhwal Central University, said, “Rawat is a very seasoned politician. He knows when and how to play his cards to maintain his upper hand in the party.”
“Despite losing the 2017 assembly elections and the 2019 general elections badly, his popularity
Rawat is the only national leader from U’khand Cong. There is an anti-BJP sentiment among the public. To capitalise on that and defeat the BJP, it is important to declare the party’s CM face PRADEEP TAMTA , Sabha MP
Rajya
in the state has not decreased. In fact, he has become more active in state politics and often holds political events or keeps making statements to remain in the limelight. This CM face tactic is also the same,” said Semwal.
Party state in-charge Devendra Yadav couldn’t be contacted despite several attempts. Pritam Singh said, “As the party central leadership had said, the elections would be fought under a collective leadership to throw the BJP away from the government in 2022.”
Hridayesh said, “Congress had never declared the CM candidate before the elections. It did once in 2017 when the party lost badly and was reduced to just 11 seats.”
BJP state president Bansidhar Bhagat said, “The Congress is not able to put its house in order but is dreaming of winning the election. The public of the state has seen the works done under both PM Modi and CM Trivendra Singh Rawat, and are happy. We will again come to power in 2022.”