Rajya Sabha poll: PDF may play spoilsport for Congress

SMA Kazmi

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 29

Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who managed to win the floor test ordered on the directions of the Supreme Court to save his government, faces another litmus test to ensure the victory of his party nominee Pradeep Tamta, his protégé, for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state in the face of announcement by the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF), a partner in the state government, to put up its own candidate for the poll. The election for the lone seat are prompted by the expiry of the term of BJP Rajya Sabha member Tarun  Vijay on July 4. The last date of nomination for the seat is June 1 and election, if required, will be held on June 11.

Harish Rawat had faced a challenge in selecting Congress nominee for the seat. The Congress enjoys the support of 33 legislators, including six-member group of the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF),  in the House following the suspension of the membership of nine rebel Congress legislators after their revolt and will be in a position to win the seat comfortably.

However, the pressure from various quarters on Harish Rawat for party nomination has added to his problems.  It was a known fact that the Congress high command would have a final say in the selection of the candidate but the demand of the six-member Progressive Democratic Front, which had supported the Congress-led state government,  has put the party  in a fix. The Progressive Democratic Front comprises three independents, two Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)  and a lone Uttarakhand Kranti Dal legislator. Mantri Prasad Naithani, convener of the PDF, had demanded that the Congress should be given the Rajya Sabha seat to a member of the PDF in lieu of support extended to th eCongress government by the front.   

It was believed that the PDF would withdraw its demand after the announcement of the candidate by the Congress, however, the PDF member and state Tourism Minister Dinesh Dhanai announced that he would be the candidate of the PDF conglomerate, adding to the problems of Chief Minister Harish Rawat. 

The announcement by the PDF to contest the Rajya Sabha poll has also put a shadow on the state government which is being run on the support of these six legislators.  It was not clear whether two BSP legislators would tow the party line and go with the entire group. It would be seen that how Chief Minister Harish Rawat tackle the situation and pacify the PDF members. There were  many claimants in the state Congress for the seat with state Congress chief Kishore Upadhaya was  the frontrunner. After the exit of all senior state party leaders, state Congress chief Kishore Upadhaya is the only senior man left from the Garhwal region who had staked claim on the seat. Sources say, with the Congress losing base in state assemblies, there is a  scramble among senior central party leaders  for a Rajya Sabha seat.

 Earlier, after the death of Manorama Sharma Dobriyal, a Rajya Sabha member, the Congress had given party ticket to film actor Raj Babbar from Uttarakhand. Both, BJP and Congress had given Rajya Sabha seats to outsiders in the past 16 years.  

However, Chief Minister Harish Rawat managed to convince the party high command to give the party ticket to a state leader. The choice of Pradeep Tamta, a former Lok Sabha MP and former legislator from Almora, is seen as a master stroke by Harish Rawat. By giving party ticket to a Dalit leader, he has tried to win the Dalit voters on his side ahead of the crucial Assembly polls scheduled in January 2017. Harish Rawat was also been able to cut down to size the ambitions of state party chief Kishore Upadhaya in the  state by his choice of  the Rajya Sabha candidate. But the demand of the PDF has again strained the relations.