Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, a simple man with astute political acumen

Right from the very beginning when Uttarakhand was created, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who is now Maharashtra governor, knew  how to play his political cards so as to remain in the forefront of BJP politics in the state. But despite his astute political acumen, close associates describe him as a simple man.

Koshyari, who is popularly called Bhagat Da, was born on June 17, 1942, to Gopal Singh Koshyari and Motima Devi in Palanadhura Chetabgarh village in Bageshwar district of the hill state. 
 

He holds a master’s degree in English and was a teacher and a journalist. He has also published two books.

Like most RSS pracharaks, Koshyari is a bachelor.

The day Uttarakhand’s first chief minister, the late Nityanand Swami, expanded his cabinet, Koshyari, along with two loyalists, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and the late Narayan Ramdas, boycotted the oath-taking ceremony, creating ripples in the ruling BJP in the hill state. After a few days, Koshyari relented and took oath as cabinet minister, holding the key portfolio of power. However, the bickering within the BJP continued as Swami had to face relentless opposition from the Koshyari camp. In a short span of one year, the Centre asked Swami to quit and brought Koshyari in his place. Though he became chief minister, the ruling BJP lost the first assembly election, setting the stage for a Congress government. This was the only blot in the otherwise clean political career of Koshyari.

But the ignominy of the defeat did not deter Koshyari from moving forward. He soon became the leader of the Opposition. In the next two or three years, he took over as state BJP president to lead the party to victory in the 2007 assembly election.

But this time, he got a shocker from the central leadership, which reposed faith in Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri, appointing him chief minister. Koshyari was really upset but was persuaded by the central leadership to withdraw his claim. Most importantly, the then BJP President, Rajnath Singh, had supported Khanduri mainly because the party had lost the 2002 assembly elections under the leadership of Koshyari despite having a firm base in the hill state.

To placate him, Koshyari was sent to the Rajya Sabha. But he continued to meddle in state politics and began an orchestrated campaign against Khanduri. After the BJP lost all the five seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections in the state, Khanduri quit in disgust. Nishank replaced Khanduri but again faced the wrath of Koshyari, who now joined hands with Khanduri to oust Nishank. Months before the 2012 assembly elections, the central BJP leadership, on the instruction of party stalwart L K Advani, removed Nishank and brought back Khanduri.

In 2014, Koshyari contested from the Nainital Lok Sabha seat and won by a huge margin. But he did not get any cabinet berth in the Modi government. Again in the 2017 assembly election in the state, when the BJP won 57 of the 70 seats, Koshyari was seen as a frontrunner for the chief minister’s post. But due to age, the high command chose his former loyalist, Trivendra Singh Rawat, mainly because the latter enjoyed the blessings of then party president Amit Shah. In the same year, Koshyari publicly stated that he would not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election, a declaration that raised many eyebrows.

But after lying low for nearly two years, Koshyari sprang a big a surprise last year when he was made governor of Maharashtra. After the Shiv Sena parted ways with the BJP in the western state, Koshyari recommended President’s rule. He also played a big role in installing Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister for a second time by bringing Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party to take oath as deputy chief minister. However, the honeymoon lasted only three days and Fadnavis quit on November 26 last year.