For the Congress, the May 10 Uttarakhand trust vote win was a morale booster, given that it had not made substantial gains since the 2014 general election debacle. For Harish Rawat, reinstated as chief minister, it was much more. But now he has his task cut out.
Post the floor test, Rawat - who was forced to step aside after President's rule was imposed in Uttarakhand in the wake of rebellion by nine Congress members in the Assembly, coupled with allegations of corruption against him brought to light by sting operations - has emerged as a tall leader in the state Congress with virtually no opposition in the party.
All indications are now that he will be the face of the Congress in the Assembly elections due next year. If that happens, it would be the first time the Congress would go into Assembly elections in Uttarakhand with a chief ministerial candidate.
Rawat has already started his homework to prepare the road map to the polls. "Forget the bad patch, start a new chapter" is how he wants to play his political innings in his second coming of sorts.
The chief minister said his focus would be on development. "Don't talk about loss or gain; my focus is totally on development," he said. After taking charge on May 11, Rawat lost no time convening a cabinet meeting the next morning. He wanted to send the message that he was serious about developmental work, which he said had suffered in the past two months due to political turmoil in the state.
But as soon as the cabinet meeting began, Rawat changed his stance: He would first implement all the previous decisions before taking new ones. This made sense as far as working of the government was concerned. "If you take one department, say, agriculture, you will find that scores of old decisions are yet to be implemented," a Rawat loyalist said. "There is no point taking more decisions when the old ones are pending."
While Rawat wants to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Assembly elections, he also wants to lift his image that has taken a beating due to two sting operations that are now being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The chief minister said he would set up a Lokayukta to check corruption.
Rawat's supporters believe his efforts could pay off in the elections. But moves made by the BJP, especially in relation to clamping President's rule in Uttarakhand, seem to be helping him, too. A top BJP leader conceded that the strategies of the party had gone wrong in the state. "If the trend continues, it will only help Rawat in the elections," the leader said.
There is speculation that all nine Congress rebels along with Rekha Arya, another member of the Congress in the Assembly, who voted against Rawat in the floor test, would be inducted into the BJP. A minister in Rawat's government said the chief minister would be more than happy if that happened. On the other hand, the rebels are mulling the possibility of floating a party, which they hope would turn the Assembly elections into a three-way contest. But there is hardly any leader among the rebels who can shoulder the responsibility of floating a party in such a short time. "Rawat will be on cloud nine if the rebels join the BJP," a senior Congress leader said. "But if they form a new party, that might spoil Rawat's game plan."
Rawat, though, has his hands full. He has the bigger responsibility of setting his house in order in the aftermath of the rebellion. There is pressure on him to expand his cabinet. At present, there are two vacancies -one due to the death of minister Surendra Rakesh of the Bahujan Samaj Party last year; the other because of Harak Singh Rawat's exit from the Congress. While the Progressive Democratic Front wants a cabinet berth in exchange for siding with the Congress in the floor test, other Assembly members from the Congress such as Nav Prabhat, who were earlier in the Vijay Bahuguna or Satpal Maharaj camps, want rewards.
With the state Budget having got mired in the dissent by nine Congress members of the Assembly, another challenge for Rawat is to allocate funds for developmental work to different departments immediately. Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal has already declared the Appropriation Bill passed. Experts say the state is financially ill due to the burgeoning non-Plan expenditure.
The other challenge before Rawat is industry, considering that investments have been depleting since 2012. Even in new industrial estates such as Sitarganj in Kumaon region, companies are not showing much interest. On the other hand, Rawat has repeatedly said he was interested in new investments in the hilly region only. The new micro, small and medium enterprises policy brought by his government has failed to enthuse industry. Growing unemployment is another headache.
This apart, Rawat may face attacks from the Opposition on the Gairsain issue. Though he has put the issue on the back-burner, the BJP and the rebels are not likely to treat it lightly. A section of Congress leaders, too, wants Gairsain, a hilly town in Chamoli district, to be declared the permanent capital of the state.
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