JOIN USUttarakhand: Congress faces Harak Singh Rawat dilemma
Many in the Congress are yet to forget the 2016 revolt by its nine MLAs, including Harak Singh Rawat, against Uttarakhand's then Harish Rawat government, which had the hill state face a constitutional crisis for two months. Now more than five years later, Harak Singh has come knocking on the doors of the Congress, but a section in that party is adamant not to allow him entry.
Harish Rawat, the face of the Congress in the state, is reluctant to readmit Harak Singh into the party. The Congress, already troubled with factionalism in Uttarakhand, could become a more divided house if Harak Singh rejoins. Manoj Rawat, Congress MLA from Kedarnath, recently gave vent to what a section of the Congress thinks of Harak Singh, "He is a murderer of democracy and should not be allowed to rejoin the party ." Many other Congress leaders and workers agree.
However, some in the Congress point to his popularity in the Garhwal region of the state and believe the party should consider Harak Singh's teary-eyed apology, particularly as elections are barely a month away. "Since he expressed his desire to work against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), our doors are open, but the high command will take the final decision," a Congress leader said.
Harak Singh could join the Congress, but it is unlikely he will contest the polls as the party's candidate. Instead, the Congress is mulling fielding his daughter-in-law, Anukriti Gosain, as its nominee from the Lansdowne assembly seat. Evidently, Harak Singh's bargaining power has suffered after the BJP expelled him. The Congress top leadership has left Harak Singh's fate in the hands of the state leaders.
A tall leader stands diminished
Earlier this week, the BJP expelled Harak Singh for six years and sacked him from the Pushkar Singh Dhami-led council of ministers. Harak Singh, according to sources, had demanded that the BJP field his daughter-in-law from the Lansdowne seat. His demand had come in the wake of reports in local newspapers of hobnobbing with senior Congress leaders to assure a ticket not only for his daughter-in-law but himself too.
Harak Singh Rawat, 61, is known in Uttarakhand politics for frequently changing his political affiliations and assembly constituencies. Yet, he has never faced defeat in assembly polls in the last two decades. He was the leader of the opposition from 2007-12 and a cabinet minister in three governments in the state.
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Harak Singh wishes to return to the Congress, which had paid heavily in the 2017 polls since his defection had triggered many influential leaders to join the BJP. Currently, Congress has no big face other than Harish Rawat and badly needs prominent faces to strengthen the party in the state. Hence, some Congress leaders allude to his winnability factor - his supporters call him the 'lion of Garhwal' - which they say the party would need in a tough election and want him reinducted.
Switching loyalties and stoking controversies has gone hand in hand in Harak Singh's 31-year long political career. He won the assembly elections the first time as a BJP nominee from Pauri in 1991 when Uttarakhand was part of the undivided Uttar Pradesh. He was the youngest minister in that government, headed by Kalyan Singh. In 1996, Harak Singh joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) due to his differences with the BJP leaders. He stayed in the BSP briefly and joined the Congress in 1998.
In 2000, Uttarakhand was carved out of UP, and Harak Singh won from Lansdowne on a Congress ticket. He remained with the Congress for 18 years, occupying ministerial and leader of the opposition positions. But in 2016, he defected to join the BJP. However, his unhappiness with former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and subsequently Pushkar Singh Dhami, who are much junior to him in politics, was known. Harak Singh's continuous pressure politics infuriated the BJP enough to show him the exit door. It is a predicament Harak Singh has never faced in his career.
(The writer is a journalist based in Dehradun)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.
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