By Gajendra Singh Negi
Gujarat model ?
An almost total revamp of the Bhupendra Patel cabinet in Gujarat ahead of the festival of Deepawali after mass resignation of the ministers and swearing in of a new look cabinet in which only six of the erstwhile ministers could find a place has sent shivers down the spine of the ministers of Pushkar Singh Dhami cabinet in Uttarakhand. A grapevine is making rounds in the political circles of the State that the saffron party’s top brass is contemplating a Gujarat style surgery in Uttarakhand. This made the ministers and their well-wishers so edgy that they celebrated a restless Deepawali this year. Incidentally, the assembly elections are due in 2027 in both Gujarat and Uttarakhand and are important for the Hindutva brand of politics of BJP. Pertinently five berths in Dhami cabinet are vacant from quite some time now and there is strong belief within the party that at least a couple of ministers should be jettisoned from the cabinet on performance parameters. In such a situation, there are many MLAs in the saffron party waiting in the wings to fill these coveted vacancies. It is believed that the central leadership of BJP can take a call on Uttarakhand after the end of the assembly elections in Bihar.
Silver jubilee
Pushkar Singh Dhami government is gearing itself to organise the silver jubilee of the creation of Uttarakhand on a grand scale. The government has convened a special session of Vidhan Sabha on November 3 and 4 in Dehradun and has invited President Droupadi Murmu to address it. The presidential address will set a tone for discussions on the achievements of the State and the challenges in its way forward in the Vidhan Sabha. The State government has planned to organise a number of programmes throughout the year starting from the State Foundation Day on November 9 and has also invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the foundation day celebrations of the State which was created in the year 2000 under the BJP regime in centre headed by Late PM Atal Bihari Vajapayee. It is expected that CM Dhami will make a number of important announcements including one on the sensitive subject of Gairsain, on November 9.
Congress woes
As expected, internal bickering between the top leaders of Uttarakhand Congress has put a spanner in the grand plan of the party high command to restructure and rejuvenate the party organisation in the Himalayan State. Under the much touted Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan, the Congress party was planning to appoint presidents (the post has been made very powerful in the new scheme of things) in all its 27 organisational districts before the festival of Deepawali. The central leadership of the party has held in depth discussion with senior leaders of the party over the reports sent by the observers on the selection of district presidents but in absence of unanimity among the senior leaders who are vying with one another to get their preferred men on the powerful post, the process is still pending. The situation has disappointed the party’s rank and file wishing for a rejuvenation of organisation ahead of the crucial battle of assembly election of 2027.
