Dehradun: When it was Uttaranchal, a section of politicians of the six-year-old state thought that they could do more if only they could change the name of the state. So, Uttarakhand was born this year. But as months went by, those who brought about the name change almost vanished from the political scene.
The Congress, which was instrumental in changing the state's identity as a ruling party, could not cash in on the emotive issue and was defeated by the BJP in the Assembly Elections held early this year.
In the February elections, the ruling Congress' seats shrunk to 21 from 36, which it got in the 2002. The BJP increased its strength to 35 from 19 in the previous elections. With the support of three-member Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), which spearheaded the separate statehood movement, and three independents, BJP formed the new government.
Chief Minister Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri's tactical moves to defeat his adversaries within and outside the party may have strengthened his position. But if he faces a few surprises in the coming year, he may as well blame himself.
Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, who led the party to power, lost the race for Chief Minister's post to former Union Highways Minister and Pauri MP B C Khanduri. The election of the new leader of BJP legislature party saw an open clash between supporters of Koshiyari and Khanduri.
Khanduri took oath of office as the new Chief Minister on March 8. He has been a wily politician: he first convinced the then Congress MLA from Dhumakot Lt Gen (retd) T P S Rawat to quit his seat to pave the way for his election to the Assembly and later the former Tourism Minister into BJP with a promise of a Lok Sabha ticket from Pauri Parliamentary constituency vacated by him.
Thus the Congress has a reduced strength of 20 MLAs in the Assembly, while the BJP has a clear majority of 36 after it won the Dhumakot by-election.
The Chief Minister not only got rid of an undue pressure from BJP's coalition partners, the UKD and three independents, but also gave a befitting response to his rival Koshiyari camp, which was pinning its hope on the party MLAs not willing to vacate seat for Khanduri.
Khanduri made his position stronger by replacing his bete noire Koshiyari by Bachi Singh Rawat as state party president.
After tasting defeat, Congress also made former Speaker and Mukteshwar MLA Yashpal Arya as new state president in place of Rajya Sabha MP Harish Rawat.
The state's fast political pace did not spare Tehri. Manvendra Shah, the last scion of Tehri dynasty and record eight-time BJP MP, passed away, and the Lok Sabha seat fell vacant.
The by-election for the seat took place along with the Assembly Elections, but the BJP, which gave ticket to Maharaja's son Manujendra Shah, could not cash in on the sympathy wave and lost the seat to Congress' Vijay Bahuguna, son of former UP strongman Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna.
Bureau Report
