Dehradun – Though politically it would not be a wise move to change the chief minister of a state in the wake of Lok Sabha elections due in mid 2014, but speculations are rife that Uttarakhand chief minister could be on his way out, though Vijay Bahuguna has, when asked, replied that “all is well”.
While his sychophants and inner core group may be keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that “all remains well” so that they can continue making their kill, if reports doing the rounds in the capital of this small hill state are to be believed, there is a lot of discontent and resentment where the Aam Aadmi is concerned.
And following the success of AAP in Delhi, political parties now realize that the 2014 Lok Sabha elections will be contested not by the political parties but by the man-on-the street and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has also said after the drubbing of the party in Delhi that radical changes are on the cards, it appears that Bahuguna’s days as chief minister of Uttarakhand could be numbered.
It is well known that not only in governance, but even in the aftermath of the tragedy that hit the Kedarnath valley in June last year, the Uttarakhand government has failed miserably on all fronts where the relief and rehabilitation work has been concerned.
There are reports trickling in from the badly affected areas of the Valley that even after six months the people continue pleading with the officers for repairing of roads and bridges but to no avail. Besides, there have been a lot of complaints in the handling of the rescue and relief operations and allegations that a lot of money was squandered and swindled by those in position.
In fact what has irked the Congress high command is the manner in which Bahuguna and his cohorts in the state tried to undermine the attendance at Modi’s rally on Parade Ground on Dec 15.
The Congress leaders put the attendance at about 35,000 to 40,000, while the intelligence agencies put it between one to 1.25 lakhs, though the BJP put the gathering at over two lakhs.
What has further irked the party high command is reports that the Congress could be further decimated in the Lok Sabha elections.
Though the party has four of the five sitting Lok Sabha members from this small mountain state, popular belief is that the score could be 5-0 in the favour of the BJP and the sole responsibilioty of the setback will be mis-governance and apathy of the babudom towards the needs of the Aam Aadmi.
The buzz word in political circles here is that there is search for an acceptable name to replace Bahuguna.
Though the automatic choice would have fallen on union water resources minister Harish Rawat, but he has rubbed the party high command the wrong way by showing his support of party MLAs, immediately after the Vidhan Sabha elections in the state.
Photo Graphic: Ravinder Makhaik
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.
