Gajendra Singh Negi
Cabinet clamour
The familiar grapevine about a change at helm of government has started circulating again in the political and social circles of Uttarakhand. Responding to rumour mongers, the president of State unit of BJP Mahendra Bhatt blamed media for starting and fuelling such baseless buzzes and for the reports of dissent within the saffron camp in the Himalayan State. Considering his position, Bhatt is justified in defending the government of his party but the fact remains that Uttarakhand has a history of political instability and that there are dissenting voices within the ruling party pressing for a change of guard. In such a situation, the well-wishers of young chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami are hoping that the high command of BJP gives a go ahead to him for expansion of his cabinet which at present has five vacancies. The expansion of the cabinet will stop the rumours of leadership change and further strengthen the position of CM Dhami in the State.
Survey skirmish
The findings of the National Annual Report and Index on Women Safety (NARI)- 2025, which ranked Dehradun among the 10 unsafe cities of India out of 31 cities surveyed, has raked up a full blown war of words between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress. The survey report has given a stick in the hands of the Congress party to browbeat the Pushkar Singh Dhami government on the sensitive issue of women safety. The chairwoman of the Uttarakhand State Commission for Women took lead in responding to the opposition salvo but her initial outright dismissal of the report and questioning the existence of the survey which incidentally was released by none other than the chairwoman of the National Commission for Women made the opposition attack even more virulent. Alarmed by the survey report and the storm it generated, the Dehradun police has now sent notice to the company PValue Analytics asking it to explain the modus operandi of the survey and has sought factual data which formed the basis of the humiliating report.
Friendly foes
The recent bonhomie witnessed between the senior leaders of the Uttarakhand Congress has rekindled the hopes of the supporters of the grand old party in the State. With the assembly elections of 2027 drawing near, all the senior leaders including former chief minister Harish Rawat, PCC president Karan Mahara, leader of opposition Yashpal Arya, former PCC presidents Pritam Singh and Ganesh Godiyal and Harak Singh are presenting a picture of unity in the party programmes and the protests. After a self-proclaimed clean chit from the Enforcement Directorate, which ostensibly was keeping him politically subdued, Harak in particular has trained his guns on the ruling BJP and its leaders. The mercurial leader has even vowed not to wear garlands till the BJP is dislodged from the power in Uttarakhand. Interestingly, party stalwart Harish Rawat who till recently never hid his dislike for Harak for his crime of leading the coup against his government in 2016 has also softened his stance on Harak Singh and is prompting him to come out with more exposures such as the Fixed Deposit of Rs 30 crore for the BJP during his tenure as cabinet minister in the Trivendra Singh Rawat government.
