Uttarakhand crisis: Harish Rawat seeks to bury hatchet with Centre

Ousted Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat flashed victory signs as he seemed to have edged past the BJP in the high-stakes trial of strength in the Uttarakhand Assembly on Tuesday.

What seemed to have swung the trial of strength in favour of the Congress was BSP supremo Mayawati’s calculated move to support the Congress. A source said at this time Ms Mayawati “cannot afford to be seen anywhere near the BJP”.

While senior saffron leaders and their so-called “master strategist”, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, were difficult to trace, Mr Rawat adopted a conciliatory line towards the Centre, and urged “all-powerful” leaders in the BJP to end the politics of confrontation.

Earlier, leaving the Assembly premises after the vote, a beaming and confident Mr Rawat announced: “The cloud of uncertainty hovering over Uttarakhand will disappear tomorrow.”

Congress president Sonia Gandhi hailed the vote as a “victory for democracy”.
Reaching out to the Centre, Mr Rawat said: “I am a small chief minister of a small state who has to fight poverty and backwardness... Come, let’s end the politics of confrontation and build together an Uttarakhand set firmly on the path of development. I appeal to the all-powerful people in Delhi to lend their helping hand in this noble mission.”

The BJP, appearing beaten in the high-stakes contest, resorted to levelling charges of “bribery” against Mr Rawat. BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma alleged that “Rawat used the loot of state resources to bribe MLAs”.

Mr Sharma claimed Mr Rawat “will not get the people’s support... People will teach him a lesson”. A defeat in the trial of strength might not only discredit the party, but blunt its adventurism with Article 356.