While the Congress has yesterday appointed a Dalit MLA Charanjeet Singh Channi as its chief minister of Punjab impressing upon the 34 % population of the Dalit community that it cares for their socio economic and political upliftment, the Bhartiya Janata Party has appointed the former governor of Uttarakhand as its national vice president likely to present her as an important Dalit face in Uttar Pradesh, the largest state likely to go to polls alongwith several other states like Uttarakhand and Punjab etc next year.
Meanwhile, hurriedly coming back to his grass root politics in Haridwar to finish the second leg of Parivartan Yatra, the constituency earlier represented by him during the Congress rule as MP, Harish Rawat has while addressing the massive rally of Congress workers said that after making a Dalit aspirant as the chief minister of Punjab he now want another Congressman of Dalit community to be the next chief minister of Uttarakhand.
He added that Congress has made a history by making a Dalit community’s son chief minister of Punjab whose mother made and dried cow dung throughout her life. My eyes were in tears when the new CM was making this humble revelation In a press conference said Rawat.
In Uttarakhand there are in total about 18% population of Dalit community with Haridwar district having the maximum numbers of them.
Congress general secretary and former CM as well as chairman of the election campaign committee Harish Rawat said these words while addressing a Parivartan Yatra rally in Laksar Haridwar.
It may be recalled that the Bhartiya Janata Party had also in the latest expansion at the centre included maximum ministers from Dalit and OBC classes including appointment of Baby Rani Maurya as it’s national vice president after her resignation as Uttarakhand governor.
It is believed that while she will contest from Agra as MLA, she will also be projected as the main face in the UP assembly elections to impress the voters of Dalit community.
Meanwhile, political analysts of Uttarakhand say that though Rawat himself is trying to seek the chief ministership of Uttarakhand for himself but by putting forth his priority favouring a Dalit to be made the next CM in case Congress wins in the state, he has tried to kill the chances of his rivals wanting to become CM.
In case he fails to become CM, he has in a way bound the party to declare a Dalit CM to keep his rivals away from becoming forward castes aspirant CM of the state, other than him say sources.
Dalit card is such that Congress high command can’t easily reject, with an apprehension of losing Dalit votes not only in Uttarakhand but also in other states of the country going to the polls next year, reveal political analysts.
There are reports that now freeing himself from hectic Punjab imbroglio Rawat will now devote his entire energy in Uttarakhand, especially he being the chairman of the party’s election campaign committee and the state Congress president Ganesh Godiyal being his trusted aide.
The earlier president who was considered to be Rawat’s arch rival, Pritam Singh was systematically relieved of the presidentship and appointed as leader of the oppostion in the assembly, making him organisationally in effective with good numbers of his supporters and coterie feeling sidelined with no important responsibilities allocated in the ongoing campaign programmes.
