In Uttarakhand, shrunk Congress braces for uphill civic polls as BJP sits fairly | Political Pulse Information

Joshi and Karnatak had been recognized to be near state Congress stalwart and ex-chief minister Harish Rawat.

Expressing his resentment with the Congress, Joshi, who had been related to the Congress since 1978, mentioned his spouse Rukhmani, a zila panchayat member, was denied the social gathering ticket for the mayoral ballot in Pithoragarh.

The state Congress has put up a courageous face over these defections, sustaining that its senior leaders – Harish Rawat, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Karan Mahra and Chief of the Opposition (LoP) within the state Meeting Yashpal Arya – are set to steer the social gathering’s marketing campaign for the civic polls, which might additionally contain different senior social gathering leaders comparable to Ganesh Godiyal, Pritam Singh and Harak Singh Rawat. Presently, the social gathering has two out of 11 mayors within the poll-bound companies.

For the grand outdated social gathering, 2024 turned out to be a turbulent yr. Within the April-June Lok Sabha polls, the social gathering was routed, dropping all 5 seats to the BJP once more. In July 2024, nevertheless, the Congress made a comeback by successful two seats within the Meeting bypolls in Badrinath and Manglaur. Badrinath needed to go to polls because of the resignation of Congress MLA Rajendra Singh Bhandari who switched to the BJP forward of the Lok Sabha polls. Bhandari bought the BJP ticket however couldn’t beat the Congress candidate Lakhpat Singh Butola. The Manglaur bypoll was necessitated because of the sitting BSP MLA’s loss of life.

Nevertheless, subsequently, within the Kedarnath Meeting bypoll, held final November, the BJP regained its successful streak, defeating the Congress by 5,622 votes to retain the seat. The Congress blamed it on the entry of an Impartial candidate Tribhuwan Rawat into the fray, who garnered 9,311 votes – greater than the successful margin.

The Congress’s vote share plummeted to 32.83% within the Lok Sabha polls from 38% within the 2022 Meeting elections, when the social gathering had gained 19 seats of 70 as in opposition to the BJP’s 47.

State Congress spokesperson Garima Dasauni claimed that the current defections wouldn’t influence the social gathering’s prospects within the polls. “The (civic) polls have already been delayed by a yr and individuals are fed up with the BJP. The Congress has no cash or energy, so spineless leaders are leaving us. If the BJP maintain welcoming them and rewarding them for defections, their very own cadre will come to us,” she mentioned.

Dasauni mentioned, “He (Joshi) contested zilla panchayat elections and co-operative financial institution elections within the 2000s and misplaced thrice, and regardless of this, Harish Rawat ji elevated him to a prime submit in an schooling physique with the rank of an MoS. He turned the overall secretary of the social gathering (organisation) and later its vice-president in 2022. Throughout his stint, a number of leaders left for the BJP. We’re not mourning for him right here. The graph of the social gathering had solely gone down ever since he took the reins.”

In a bid to tackle the formidable BJP, the Congress has additionally sought to grab on some civil society campaigns within the state on varied points. Shortly earlier than the Kedarnath bypoll, the Congress had prolonged assist to the Uttarakhand Berozgar Sangh, however in useless. “When Bobby Panwar of Uttarakhand Berozgar Sangh was booked on prices of assault throughout a scuffle on the state secretariat, the Congress supported him. However in the course of the Kedarnath bypoll, he backed the Impartial candidate who got here third. This value us the election and we stopped backing him,” mentioned a celebration chief.

In sharp distinction, the BJP appears assured in regards to the civic physique polls because the social gathering rides into the New Yr with two key coverage strikes – the Uniform Civil Code, which is more likely to be carried out from this month, and the proposed modification to the present land legislation that may make the curbs on “outsiders” buying land within the state stricter.

State BJP chief and Rajya Sabha MP, Mahendra Bhatt, claimed that the social gathering would win all 11 mayor seats and a lot of the councils and nagar panchayats. “Badrinath had a Congress MLA who resigned and it gained the seat attributable to this benefit. In Manglaur, the BJP has by no means come second, however this time, we had been behind by just a bit over 400 votes. This isn’t the victory of the Congress as they make it out to be. With the implementation of UCC and new land legislation, we are going to stay on prime.”

Bhatt additionally mentioned the BJP would reward the leaders who joined its fold.

Presently, 4 ministers within the Pushkar Singh Dhami Cupboard are former Congress leaders who switched to the BJP during the last decade. They embrace Subodh Uniyal, Saurabh Bahuguna, son of former CM Vijay Bahuguna, Satpal Maharaj and Rekha Arya.