RAJPATH ROUNDUP: Bahuguna apos;s Slow Response To The Uttarakhand Disaster Reveals The Failures Of The Congress High Command

RAJPATH ROUNDUP: Bahuguna's slow response to the Uttarakhand disaster reveals the failures of the Congress high command By
Published: 23:52 BST, 24 June 2013 | Updated: 23:52 BST, 24 June 2013
</a> No honeymoon: Congress had consistently ignored the environmental warning signals in Uttarakhand ever since Vijay Bahuguna was made the chief minister of the state

If the Congress government in Uttarakhand is getting all the flak for its lackadaisical response to the tragedy that has struck the state, much of the blame should be shared by the party's central high command.



It had consistently ignored the warning signals emanating from Dehradun ever since Vijay Bahuguna was para-dropped as the chief minister of the state in March last year.

Union minister Harish Rawat enjoyed the backing of a majority of the 32 Congress MLAs, yet the party's top brass decided to shift Bahuguna to Dehradun.

In less than a year after taking over the reins of the state, Bahuguna lost much of his sheen. He was not only found wanting in administering the state, his frequent trips to destinations outside the state became the subject of gossip in the Uttarakhand capital.



"The joke doing the rounds here is about not his absence from Dehradun for prolonged periods, but his visits to the state capital, said a scribe from the hill state.

A former Mumbai High Court judge, Bahuguna got a taste of popular disaffection with his government when he failed to get his son Saket elected to the Lok Sabha in the by-election to the Tehri seat in October last.

The seat had fallen vacant after Bahuguna was pitchforked as the state's chief minister. The Congress candidate, in fact, trailed behind his BJP rival in six of the seven assembly segments falling in the Lok Sabha constituency.

Despite the setback, the senior Bahuguna remained nonchalant in his approach. When the torrential rains wreaked havoc over large parts of the state a week ago, the state administration found itself illequipped to handle a calamity of such a magnitude.

The government was clearly slow in responding to the situation. At a time when the chief minister should have displayed his leadership skills by leading from the front in steering the relief operations, he performed yet another vanishing act on June 19, when he accompanied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to the national Capital after undertaking an aerial survey of the devastation caused by the deluge, and stayed back for the night.

His absence fuelled widespread anger among the local population. With the Congress getting pilloried by the Opposition, and an alert media for the state administration's apathy, it has now decided to station vice-president Rahul Gandhi in the state to oversee relief work.
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The Gandhi scion himself has been missing in action, and his absence invited jeers from the principal Opposition party, the BJP.

With LoK Sabha elections less than a year away, the Congress will have to work overtime to neutralise the anti-incumbency disadvantage.

In the 2009 general election, the party bagged all the five seats from the state. The BJP, which was pulverised four years ago, has shown signs of bouncing back.

In the assembly elections held in March last year, its tally (31) was only one less that of its main political rival, the Congress.

It victory in the Tehri bypoll was a big morale-booster. With the Bahuguna government earning negative publicity for its handling of the natural disaster, the BJP senses an opportunity in the state. Bahuguna's appointment as Uttarakhand chief minister is a clear example of the tyranny of the high command culture, by which people with mass-base have been ignored.

Thankfully, the Congress' central leadership saw the straws in the wind, and decided to go along with the majority view in Karnataka, rather than foist a leader from New Delhi.

In the 122-member Congress contingent in the state, Siddaramaiah claimed to enjoy the backing of more than half of the newly-elected MLAs.

He hailed from the Janata Dal stable, and yet Congress president Sonia Gandhi resisted the temptation to thrust someone from the top. It has clearly learnt a big lesson from its Uttarakhand mistake.
Alliance: The Congress is keen to secure the support of Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas
JD(U) and Congress say no to alliance but keep their options open
With the JD(U) formalising its divorce with the BJP in Bihar, and the Congress bailing out the Nitish Kumar government in the June 19 trust vote, buzz is growing louder in political circles here about a political realignment in the state.



Even though both the JD(U) and the Congress have reacted with alacrity in denying reports of the two parties joining hands in the state, there is a growing realisation that they would need each other's help to shore up their prospects in Bihar.


The JD(U)'s calculation that, in the wake of its split with the BJP, the Muslims, who comprise some 15 per cent of the electorate in Bihar, would vote for it enbloc in the 2014 general election, could fall flat if the Congress goes it alone.



A three-way split in the "secular votes cannot but be discomforting for the JD(U). Party leaders concede privately that if they enter into a pre-poll tie-up with the Congress, the prospects of the Muslims voting for the alliance in large numbers would grow brighter.

But there lies the catch. The Congress is also keen to bring Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, who's presently with the RJD, on board.

It is common knowledge in political circles that Nitish and Paswan cannot stand each other.
 

Narendra Modi's appointment to election campaign chief has brought enthusiasm to BJP HQ
With Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi taking over as the BJP's campaign committee chief, there is a sudden burst of enthusiasm among the cadre about the prospects of their party's national headquarters at 11, Ashoka Road regaining its former glory.



Indications emanating from the BJP brass suggest that the war-room for the 2014 electoral battle will be located in the head-office, and not at the residence of any senior telegra.ph leader.


 





TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao is rumoured to be in talks with the Congress Party
BJP sees Telangana as a cash cow

The BJP'S hopes of a revival in Andhra Pradesh in the next round of Lok Sabha polls rest on the party's performance in the 17 seats in the Telangana region.


It is keenly watching the Telangana Rashtra Samiti's dalliance with the Congress, which is keen on a tie-up with the pro-Telangana outfit before the general election to shore up its prospects in a state which was considered its citadel till the time Y S Rajasekhara Reddy held sway.




While the BJP has a negligible presence in Rayalseema and coastal Andhra Pradesh, it has managed to resurrect its organisational apparatus in Telangana by extending its backing for a separate state.


In the ongoing agitation for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, BJP activists have clawed their way back to the forefront.



Even though the TRS, which was created on the eve of the 2004 general election, with the specific mandate of fighting for a separate state, remains the most formidable political player in the region, BJP leaders are hoping that rumours of an impending merger of the TRS with the Congress would enable it to occupy the opposition space in the region.


The BJP has always commanded a good following in the Telangana region. The Ram Rath Yatra undertaken by party veteran L K Advani in 1990 had drawn a tremendous response while passing through Telangana districts.




In the 1999 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP, contesting in alliance with the TDP, won seven seats from Andhra Pradesh, four of which were from the Telangana region.


But it had to pay a price for its decision to embrace TDP.
To keep N Chandrababu Naidu in humour, the BJP decided to jettison the separate statehood cause.


In the elections of 2004, it was wiped out from the region altogether. The BJP has now decided to effect a course-correction, and is now in the forefront of the Telangana movement.




If the TRS does decide to merge with the Congress, the field, BJP leaders hope, will be wide open for them in Telangana. It is now planning to deploy Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to woo the electorate.