Dehra Dun : Even as speculation is rife in political circles here that Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna is likely to be shown the door shortly, something that is vehemently refuted by his supporters, but perhaps no sitting chief minister has faced such ignominy has he and yet refised to read the writing on the wall.
Recently Mahila Congress members of Mussoorie burnt the effigy of not only the chief minister, bust his son Saket also, who is known to be involved in decisions taken by his father, for nomination certain persons to the Municipal Corporation, despite their having no hold amongst the masses or having worked for the party at the ground level.
Their allegation was that rather than nominating deserving persons to the Corporation, which would have sent a proper message to the rank and file of the party in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, the deserving party workers were conveniently ignored. This had not only demoralized the party workers, but had even sent a wrong message at a crucial juncture.
Party workers were of the view that at a time when party vice president Rahul Gandhi is talking of revamping the party and doing away with sons and daughters of important leaders being given plum positions and tickets, Uttarakhand chief minister and his son Saket, were conveniently avoiding these guidelines and imposing their will on party workers.
The other incident which unnerved the party leadership in the state was the pasting of posters at the Congress bhavan here and other significantly important places. The incident got wide publicity as the posters were of the chief minister’s bête noire, Harish Rawat, who happens to be the union water resources minister in Manmhan cabinet.
It may be recalled that from day one, when the Congress emerged as the single largest party in Uttarakhand vidhan sabha elections, Harish Rawat had thrown his hat in the ring for the post of chief minister. He went to the extent of having the MLAs supporting him camped in Delhi to convey to the party high command that the majority of Congress legislators were for him as chief minister.
However, the party high command for reasons anointed Vijay Bahguna as the chief minister, but Harish Rawat has been giving pin pricks at every opportune moment and has not even though twice in humiliating the Vijay Bahuguna government in the state.
The obvious reason has been that he feels he is the automatic choice should the Congress high command think of changing Bahuguna.
A journalist with over 40 years of experience, Jagdish Bhatt was Editor, Hill Post (Uttarakhand).
Jagdish had worked with India’s leading English dailies, which include Times of India, Indian Express, Pioneer and several other reputed publications. A highly acclaimed journalist, he was a recipient of many awards
Jagdish Bhatt, aged 72, breathed his last on 28th August 2021 at his Dehradun residence.
