NEW DELHI: With former Uttarakhand chief minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat advocating for a Scheduled Caste (SC) chief minister in the hill state, analysts point out that this is meant to counter the Aam Aadmi Party’s growing influence in Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar districts with 22 assembly seats out of a total 70 in the state.
Both the districts have around 50 per cent population of the SC and Muslims of total voters. If the AAP is able to secure the second or even third position in 22 of these state assembly constituencies it may dent the prospects of Congress to secure a majority in the upcoming state assembly elections.
Dehradun-based analyst Yogesh Kumar says: “The Congress and the BJP both are aware of the AAP’s growing influence, especially in these districts. The state leadership has also been selected from Udham Singh Nagar only. Rawat advocating a Scheduled Caste chief minister in Uttarakhand is telling the voters that the Congress has not forgotten the community.”
Political pundits also opine that it is difficult to get a SC chief minister with Thakur-Brahmin vote bank dominating the state politics. Thakurs have the vote share of 35, while Brahmins 25 per cent. Traditionally, if the chief minister’s position goes to a Thakur, the state president’s position goes to a Brahmin leader or vice-versa.
Uttarakhand has had a total of 10 CMs since its formation in 2000, all from Brahmins and Thakur communities. This list includes Nityanand Swami, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Vijay Bahuguna, Harish Rawat, Trivendra Singh Rawat, Tirath Singh Rawat and the Pushkar Singh Dhami, the incumbent CM.
About the AAP’s prospects in the state, statehood activist Avtar Singh Rawat says: “Uttarakhand is not Delhi. If we look at the trend here, people like to change the government in every election.” Avtar Singh Rawat is a senior advocate from the Uttarakhand High Court and Supreme Court.