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Sep 20, 2021

Uttarakhand: AAP Welcomes BJP, Congress Rebels, Presents Itself As a Serious Contender

“There are good people in many parties, including the BJP and the Congress, who are feeling suffocated there. Such good people are welcome in AAP," Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday, during his visit to the state.
AAP convener and Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kerjiwal, during a roadshow in Dehradun on Sunday, September 19. Photo: Facebook/Aam Aadmi Party Uttarakhand.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had decided not to contest the 2017 Uttarakhand polls following a rebellion within its ranks the previous year, has this time made a serious foray into the state politics and has provided a new option to the rebels of both Congress and BJP.

During his visit to the state on Sunday, the party convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal hinted that AAP’s doors would remain open to the rebels of other parties.

AAP’s impact in upcoming state elections

Talking to the media, Kejriwal stated that “there are good people in many parties, including the BJP and the Congress, who are feeling suffocated there. Such good people are welcome in AAP.”

His announcement is likely to have a strong bearing on the upcoming assembly elections in the state which in the past used to witness a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP. Within both these parties, there are a number of senior leaders who have themselves jumped boats and yet feel that they have not got their due in terms of ministerial or party posts.

Also read: Arvind Kejriwal Picks Ex-Serviceman as AAP’s CM face for Uttarakhand Assembly Polls

In the 2017 assembly elections, BJP candidates had faced party rebels in as many as 12 seats. The situation of the Congress was no better. While several of its senior leaders had moved to the BJP before the polls, a large number of others had contested against the party candidates. After the polls, Congress had expelled as many as 26 of its leaders for six years from the party. With that period not having lapsed, many of them are now said to be fit candidates for a new party like AAP to take in as they have a significant amount of following in their respective constituencies.

Meanwhile, former chief minister Harish Rawat had declared in August that Congress was not in a hurry to take into its fold BJP rebels. Without taking any names, Rawat said some of the BJP leaders were in touch with him to cross over.

Turncoats may now ditch BJP

It is widely believed in political circles in Uttarakhand that several senior leaders including former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna and former ministers Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat and Yashpal Arya – who had moved to the BJP from the Congress ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections – were not too happy with the way things were in the party.

In the last five years, BJP has had three chief ministers in Uttarakhand but these leaders were not found fit for the post. While the party began its innings with Trivendra Singh Rawat, he was replaced by Teerath Singh Rawat in March this year, who subsequently made way for Pushkar Singh Dhami in July.

The Congress knows that the return of such senior leaders into the party would strengthen it, but it also realises that such developments before the assembly polls may also result in friction within its own ranks since their joining the BJP had created opportunities for other leaders to nurture the constituencies and now they would want the tickets from there.

Harish Rawat may resist the return of stalwarts

Also, Harish Rawat is not too keen on the return of Vijay Bahuguna and Harak Singh Rawat as they had revolted against his government in 2016 which ultimately led to its fall a year later.

On the other hand, there is also a lot of resentment within the BJP with the way in which former Congress leaders were accommodated in high offices while the claims of the party’s own cadre to these posts were overlooked. There are many BJP leaders who had contested as independents in 2017 after being denied tickets and some of them would now be prime candidates for a switchover to the AAP.

When BJP had fielded Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat and Subodh Uniyal – all of whom had come from the Congress – as its candidates they had faced strong opposition from the party rebels. However, the rebels were not able to defeat them and they all became ministers in the Trivendra Singh Rawat government. In fact, apart from them, Yashpal Arya was the fourth former Congress leader to be made a Cabinet minister. The BJP had only made three Cabinet ministers from its own fold then. This apart, it had also given one of the two minister of state posts to a former Congress leader, Rekha Arya.

An opportunity for BJP, Congress rebels

With AAP now in serious contention, rebels from both the Congress and the BJP will find an opportunity to get a shot at the legislature seats with the support of a party whose graph has been on the rise in north India.

As for AAP, after forming the government in Delhi in 2013 and then again in 2015, it had tried to set up a functional unit in Uttarakhand ahead of the 2017 polls. However, it had suffered a major setback when nearly 200 members, including senior leaders and former Lok Sabha candidates, broke away from it in mid-2016 and formed a separate political entity called Hamara Uttarakhandjan Manch (HUM).

The rebel group had accused the AAP central leadership of not paying attention to the politics in the state or its issues.

Also read: BJP Walks a Tightrope on Char Dham Issue as Congress, AAP Assure Dissolution of Devasthanam Board

AAP is going in better prepared this time

However, this time AAP is going much better prepared for the polls. While deputy chief minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, has been given the charge of the state and he has been holding regular meetings there, party convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has also made several trips during which he has promised a Delhi-like development model for the state. Apart from this AAP has also supported the protests by priests against the constitution of the Char Dham Board and promised to do away with it if elected.

In another bold step, the party has already declared the name of a retired colonel, Ajay Kothiyal, as its chief ministerial face. This is significant as the state has a large population of retired and service defence and para-military personnel, whose vote can make a deep impact upon any party’s prospects.

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