Desperate BJP pleads with rebels in U'khand

Alarmed at the scale of rebellion in the BJP ranks, Sangh Parivar organisations are mobilising their rank and file for the Uttarakhand Assembly elections.

They have sent out a desperate plea: “don’t work against the official candidates”.
A senior Sangh Parivar organiser told DH that a message has been sent to the cadre to “remain neutral” or “become inactive”, but not work against the BJP candidates.

The BJP has already expelled more than 50 leaders from the party – 18 for refusing the diktat to withdraw from the fray as Independents and 33 others for engaging in “anti-party” activities.

“I fail to understand what was the need to try and topple the Harish Rawat government in May last year,” a senior local BJP leader said on condition of anonymity.

He said even more surprising was the decision of the central BJP leadership to induct the ‘navratanas’ of the Congress after they were discredited in the topple game that saw Chief Minister Harish Rawat emerge stronger.

Another BJP leader said the old-timers were still wondering what the party would have achieved by remaining in power for the last six or seven months of the tenure of the Assembly. “We threw Harish Rawat a lifeline. The BJP was certain to get a decisive mandate had we not indulged in toppling Rawat, and not succeeded at it. Now, we have welcomed even the liabilities of the Congress into our fold,” he said.

The BJP has inducted former Congress leaders Vijay Bahuguna, Harak Singh Rawat, Subodh Uniyal, Kunwar Pranav Champion, Shailarani Rawat and Rekha Arya,  among others, after the failed coup.

It fielded nine Congress rebels and accommodated Bahuguna’s son Saurabh in its list of candidates for the February 15 elections.

In addition, the BJP also rewarded Congress rebel Yashpal Arya and his son Sanjeev with poll tickets within 48 hours after they joined the party fold.
The game of musical chairs has also left BJP voters confused.

“We don’t know who is the real BJP. In the last elections we lost no opportunity to criticise Subodh Uniyal, who was with the Congress. Now, he is one among us,” said S S Sharma, a businessman and a diehard BJP supporter.

Uniyal, who played a key role in the failed coup, is the BJP candidate from Narendra Nagar. Om Gopal Rawat, who was expecting the BJP ticket from the Assembly seat, rebelled and entered the fray as an Independent. According to locals, Om Gopal enjoys goodwill in the local BJP ranks.