In the recent Uttarakhand Assembly elections, Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha published some canvassing literature, which focused primarily on the achievements of its founder retired Lt. General TPS Rawat.

Another salient feature of this literature was Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha putting the blame of Rawat’s public disgrace solely on the machinations of Congress leaders during Rawat’s tenure as Excise minister.

I read that multi-page literature, and it appears to me that MR. TPS Rawat wrongly blames Congress for his public disgrace and eventual downfall. To take the point further -- what he's trying now is to mislead the people of Uttarakhand by giving all wrong reasons.

The reason for the General going down on public estimation was something else.

And the reason was: Lt Gen TPS Rawat (retd) vacated his seat after resigning from the Congress for Chief Minister BC Khanduri in 2007.

Now, he may say that he resigned from Congress, as the party didn’t treated him well; but in their hearts deep inside, the people of Uttarakhand are not willing to accept his reason.

The people of Uttarakhand (people have collective consciousness), especially those who voted for him, feel that he played a cruel with them ‘dhoka diya’). Many even speculate some money changing hands during the ‘seat sacrifice'.

In Indian politics, which is dominated by male ‘Way of Thinking’ which gives emphasis on ‘the Loyalty towards a group or party’; the action had long term consequence for TPS Rawat. To such an extent that, even after five years of the said action, TPS Rawat is not trusted figure in Uttarakhand.

[Just ask yourself how you will feel as a voter, if the MLA you sent to the Assembly, resigns his/her seat; And you will understand peoples' disappointment.]

Even the party who benefited from Rawat’s sacrifice, the BJP, seems to see TPS Rawat suspiciously.

Taking the analysis further: it’s widely being speculated that CM Vijay Bahuguna Lobby in Congress is trying to convince any BJP MLA to leave his seat for CM. The main reason for doing so are two benefits for Congress:

 1) It will not decrease the Congress’s MLA tally in Uttarakhand Assembly to 31 and


2) If a BJP MLA leaves a seat for Bahuguna, then it automatically makes the seat safe for the CM, as BJP voters there will have a strong displeasure for the seat sacrificing BJP MLA, which in turn will make it difficult for BJP to canvass effectively for the new BJP candidate.

Since BJP did the same (made Congress’s TPS Rawat resign his seat) for its CM incumbent, BC Khanduri, in 2007; hence it has no moral ground to shout foul now.

But, one thing which needs to be understood here is that – If some BJP MLA sacrifices his seat for the CM Vijay Bahuguna of Congress; then he/she should be ready to live the same political life, Lt. Gen. TPS Rawat is living since 2007.
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