Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr | U’khand trouble spells end of Modi’s free run
Published : Jul 5, 2021, 7:09 am IST
Updated : Jul 5, 2021, 7:09 am IST
The Assembly elections in April-May have shown that there are limits to the Prime Minister’s charisma
Newly appointed Uttarakhand Legislative party leader Pushkar Singh Dhami with party leaders, in Dehradun. Central observer D Purandeswari, Tirath Singh Rawat are also seen. (PTI)
The shuffling of chief ministers in Uttarakhand -- three in a four-and-a-half-year span – certainly reveals that there is a problem in the ruling BJP’s structure in the two-decade-old state. The party has a commanding majority -- 57 out of 70 seats -- in the state Assembly, and yet stability seems to elude it. The party seems unable to find a leader. Trivendra Singh Rawat gave way to Tirath Singh Rawat, and just four months later he is replaced by Pushkar Singh Dhami, a party member who has never been in the government. Even a centralised party like the BJP, where the lines of command are clearly drawn -- the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) directs the central leadership of the BJP, and the central leadership calls the shots in the state -- power politics and the clash of interest groups assert themselves.