Congress trying to come out of shadow of Harish Rawat after quarter of a century in Uttarakhand

Congress trying to come out of shadow of Harish Rawat after quarter of a century in Uttarakhand

S.M.A. Kazmi

Dehradun, Nov 13

The Congress party in a move aimed at preparations for the 2027 state assembly polls has tried to come out of the shadow of senior party leader and former Chief Minister Harish Rawat after a period of quarter of century since the inception of the state in 2000 by appointing a triumvirate.

The party has appointed Ganesh Godiyal, a former Brahmin legislator from Pauri Garhwal as the president of the Uttarakhand unit. He replaced Karan Mahra, brother- in- law of Harish Rawat, who completed his three- year term in April this year. Interestingly, two other senior party leaders namely Pritam Singh and Harak Singh Rawat were appointed as Heads of party’s campaign committee and election management committee, respectively.

Ganesh Godiyal considered close to Harish Rawat off late has distanced himself from him while comeback of Harak Singh Rawat on an important position is a setback for Harish Rawat, who has not forgiven him for 2016 mass defection of Congress legislators.

The mercurial Harak Singh Rawat who returned to Congress before 2022 state assembly polls is facing CBI and enforcement directorate cases of corruption butt has been most vocal against BJP government. He has been awarded for his aggression despite facing cases which none of the senior state Congress leaders has done.

Karan Mahra, a former Congress legislator from Ranikhet had taken over from Ganesh Godiyal in 2022 after the defeat of the party in the state assembly polls. The appointment of triumvirate of Ganesh Godiyal, Pritam Singh and Harak Singh Rawat is a blow to the ambitions of Harish Rawat who is the sole senior most party leader still eyeing the top post if the party wins the 2027 state assembly polls.

The party has tried to balance between Garhwal and Kumaon regions and various castes. While, Yashpal Arya, Leader of Opposition and Deputy Leader Bhuvan Kapri are from Kumoan, the outgoing state unit chief Karan Mahra was also from Kumoan. By appointing the triumvirate from Garhwal region, and also appointing Presidents of the district Congress Chiefs from various castes and communities, the party has tried to balance the equation before the state assembly which are 13 months away.

The last two state assembly polls of 2017 and 2022 were fought under his tutelage which Congress lost badly. Since, 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Congress has been completely routed by the resurgent BJP riding on the planks of Hindutva and nationalism. The Congress has failed to score a single win in the 2014, 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Harish Rawat has been controlling the party since the inception of the state being the first president of the state unit in 2000.

Harish Rawat had remained a controversial leader who has tried to control the state party unit and pressurised the party high command to bow to his wishes from time to time. Interestingly in his bid to lord over the party, he has never allowed or supported any state Congress party president. He has the dubious distinction of having feuds with all the state party chiefs including his own brother-in-law Karan Mahra and his one-time proteges namely Pritam Singh and Kishore Upadhaya. Yashpal Arya, presently, Leader of Opposition (LOP)in the state assembly also had bitter relations with Harish Rawat when headed the state party unit.

Most interestingly, Ganesh Godiyal was very close to Harish Rawat and was brought as party chief in 2021 replacing Pritam Singh before the 2022 state assembly polls. It was still commonly believed that Ganesh Godiyal has been again been brought back on the recommendation of Harish Rawat, but the ground reality is that Harish Rawat had changed horses midstream and was rooting for Pritam Singh whom he himself opposed during his tenure as state party chief. After the resounding win of Congress in Dehradun district in panchayat elections under the leadership of Pritam Singh this year, Harish Rawat at a public felicitation function had announced that next state assembly polls should be fought under the leadership of Pritam Singh much to the surprise of Ganesh Godiyal who had since then tried to distance himself from the shadow of Harish Rawat.

Harish Rawat had a running feud with veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister N.D.Tewari and during the tenure of Tewari as Chief Minister of the state from 2002 till 2007, he acted as the main opposition to him and left no chance to undermine him. He was dead against the group of party leaders owing allegiance to Tewari and forced most of them to leave the party.

Harish Rawat led a group of Uttarakhand Congress legislators who opposed the elevation of Vijay Bahuguna as Chief Minister after 2012 state assembly elections. In the bargain, he got a place in the ministry of Manmohan Singh. Despite being a Union Minister from 2009 till 2014, he continued to snipe at Bahuguna and finally got rid of him following 2013 natural disaster. He played a crucial role in convincing the party high command that the state government response to the disaster was dismal and there was a need for change of guard. He replaced Bahuguna as Chief Minister in February 2014 but was unable to keep his flock together particularly leaders belonging to Tewari faction. Soon, senior party leader Satpal Maharaj left the party. Later, ten Congress legislators led by Vijay Bahuguna left Congress to join the BJP bringing down his government which was later reinstated on the intervention of the Supreme Court directions. But he lost the 2017 state assembly elections badly. He himself lost from both the assembly segments of Kiccha and Haridwar( rural) from where he contested the polls. The party was reduced to its’ worst tally of 11 seats in the house of 70 members.

After the poll debacle, Pritam Singh, a legislator from Chakrata was made state Congress Chief but Harish Rawat also had problem with him. After the demise of Indira Hariydesh, a senior party leader hailing from Haldwani who was leader of opposition in the state assembly, Harish Rawat convinced party high command to remove Pritam Singh and got Ganesh Godiyal as state party president.

Pritam Singh, five – time legislator from Chakrata assembly segment who throughout his political career in state politics was a Harish Rawat loyalist found his own mentor turning against him.

During the 2022 state assembly polls, Harish Rawat also had strained relations with state party general secretary In-charge Devendra Yadav who was trying to take everybody along. Harish Rawat wanted a free hand in the distribution of tickets which he was able to do to some extent.

Earlier, Harish Rawat who was party general secretary in-charge of Punjab was blamed for the ruin of the party in the state. Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had blamed Harish Rawat of playing dirty and tried to prop up Navjot Singh Sindhu before 2022 state assembly polls. After the removal of Amarinder Singh as Chief Minister, both the leaders exchanged unpleasant things against each other. Amarinder Singh also accused Harish Rawat in his resignation letter.

After Harish Rawat returned to Uttarakhand after the coronation of Charanjit Singh Channi as Punjab Chief Minister and had a tiff with Devendra Yadav, party general secretary In-charge of Uttarakhand, Amarinder Singh had tweeted “You reap, What you sow”.

Interestingly, another former Punjab Congress Chief and presently Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar, in an interview with a television channel had blamed Harish Rawat for scripting the defeat of the party in Punjab. Jakhar said that Harish Rawat came with a set agenda to promote Navjot Singh Sidhu, who demanded greater say and played a big role in the replacement of Amarinder Singh with Charanjit Singh Channi.

Sunil Jakhar said that he suspected that he got his agenda implemented at the cost of bickering. On the issue of debacle of Congress in Uttarakhand and Harish Rawat personally losing elections in 2022, Sunil Jakhar said that it was probably “divine justice”.

It would be interesting to watch that how Ganesh Godiyal would be able to take on the challenge of uniting the party and fight with BJP and get past Harish Rawat who has a record of putting hurdles in the path of every state party president in the past including his own close and chosen ones.