Dehradun: BJP lost the last Uttarakhand elections by just one seat. Had its CM candidate BC Khanduri won his seat from Kotdwar, BJP would have pipped Congress by one seat and formed the government.
Five years later, the troubles within returned to haunt the party in the run up to the polls this year. It had had to accommodate more than a dozen Congress rebels who had jumped ship to topple the Rawat government. Facing revolt in most of the seats given to Congress rebels, the party in the end had to rely heavily on Prime Minister Modi to pull this one through.
The Prime Minister had to address four rallies in the state.
The reliance on PM was also accentuated by the fact that party did not project a CM candidate to take on Harish Rawat. BJP relied on collective leadership. Half a dozen leaders aspired for the CM's post. Though nomination of Satpal Maharaj for Assembly polls raised many eyebrows within the party. A rank outsider, the former Congress MP from Pauri, a spiritual guru, joined BJP on the eve of the general elections in 2014.
Input and feedback from prant pracharak in-charge of West UP and Uttarakhand, Alok, was regularly sought by the party in finalising its list of candidates.
BJP in Uttarakhand, they say, is its own biggest adversary. While announcing party candidates, Union Minister JP Nadda indicated that only elected legislators would be in contention for CM's post. The edict put all senior MPs and CM aspirants like Bhagat Singh Koshiari and Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank out of reckoning.
Sensing trouble, midway during the campaign, Amit Shah had to take corrective measures. The party president announced from Ramnagar that the next CM need not necessarily be an MLA. And party could even send an MP to lead the government in Dehradoon if elected to power.
The challenge was to keep everyone interested and engaged.
The ploy worked to a large extent. The only worry remained the twin Tarai districts of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar which together make up 19 seats. The two districts have substantial Muslim and Dalit population and Rawat was contesting from two seats, one seat in each district. Both areas also posted high voter turnout this election.
That, perhaps was the X factor which brought in an element of uncertainty in these elections in Uttarakhand.
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