Defections, rebels cost Congress dear in U'khand

Weakened by large-scale defections and the challenge from disappointed ticket seekers within the party contesting as independents, Congress failed to withstand the onslaught of a Modi wave in Uttarakhand Assembly polls getting evicted from power with just 11 seats.
Five rallies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi mobilised massive support for the BJP which scripted history bagging 56 of the 70 seats.
Congress' rout at the hands of the BJP in Uttarakhand is being attributed by poll watchers to the rebellions during Harish Rawat's tenure which saw many party stalwarts deserting it one after another.
While desertions by them left the Congress in shambles, their defection to the BJP ahead of the polls worked as a shot in the arm for the saffron party.

12 tall Congress turncoats or their wards contested the assembly elections in the state as BJP candidates and barring two all of them reaped rich electoral harvests to power the party to a massive victory.
Vijay Bahuguna's son Saurav Bahuguna was fielded by BJP from his father's constituency of Sitarganj from where he won by 28,450 votes.

Similarly, Yashpal Arya's son Sanjeev was fielded by the party from Nainital which he won by 7,247 votes.
Former PCC chief and a big dalit leader from Kumaon region Yashpal Arya who joined the BJP shortly before the elections also scored an impressive victory from Bajpur.

Kunwar Paranav Singh Champion, Subodh Uniyal, Harak Singh Rawat, Pradeep Batra, Umesh Sharma Kau and Rekha Arya all won from their respective seats to further swell the BJP's tally.
PCC president Kishore Upadhaya himself fell a victim to the resentment caused within a section of the party after denial of tickets as he lost the Sahaspur seat to BJP which got the advantage of Upadhaya's former party colleague Aryendra Sharma being in the fray as an Independent.
The course of rebellions in Uttarakhand Congress had
begun way back in 2012 when Harish Rawat himself revolted against the party leadership for imposing Vijay Bahuguna as the state's chief minister, threatening to quit the party and float his own.

The party leadership had to intervene to quell the rebellion by Rawat by elevating him from a Union Minister of State for Labour in UPA II to the cabinet rank as the Union Minister for Water Resources.
Rawat began a campaign to remove Bahuguna once again after the 2013 disaster in Uttarakhand and rested only when the former had to step down to make way for him to take over the reins of power.
Soon after Rawat took over as chief minister of the state senior party leader Satpal Maharaj quit the Congress to join the BJP.
Though desertion by Satpal Maharaj was a big setback for the party, Rawat kept ignoring the ambitions of other party leaders causing resentment against him to grow over time.

The simmering discontent within the party against Rawat erupted in March last year when 10 MLAs revolted against him and joined hands with BJP.
When the party was still recovering from the effects of the large-scale desertions, a leader of the stature of Yashpal Arya quit the party dealing another blow to it ahead of the polls.
Even PCC chief Kishore Upadhaya admitted that desertions by these stalwarts considerably weakened the party ahead of the elections.