A senior Uttarakhand BJP functionary told IANS that it is the historical fact that the organisation never worked in coordination with the state unit and always tried to weaken the chief minister and government.
“Till now, our state unit always created hurdles for the BJP government in Uttarakhand. Both always worked in opposite directions and it is visible during the recent Assembly polls. Making both the BJP organisation and government work in sync is going to be the biggest challenge for the leadership,” he said.
Many believe that the party feels that the trust shown in Pushkar Singh Dhami by allowing him to continue as the chief minister despite losing from Khatima will not succeed till the organisation and government are put on the same page.
Last month after the declaration of the Assembly poll results, the BJP central leadership decided to two give a second chance to Dhami who was made the chief minister of Uttarakhand in July last year. Six MLAs have offered to vacate their seats for Dhami to contest and become member of the state Assembly within six month.
“Dhami has been made chief minister despite losing his Assembly poll battle only for the work he did in the last six months before the Assembly polls. Our internal survey was showing around 20 seats in July last year, while six months later we won 47 Assembly seats. Dhami is the only local factor for the BJP’s historic victory in Uttarakhand apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” another BJP leader said.
A section in the party feels that to allow Dhami to continue doing his work uninterrupted, especially, when there was the feedback that many within the party worked to ensure his defeat in Khatima.
“Lots of voices are raised against the state unit president and he has blamed personal agendas for sabotaging the party’s interest. Many candidates had blamed Madan Kaushik, Uttarakhand BJP president, for working against party interest. It will be a challenge for Dhami to put the government on the same page with an organisation led by Kaushik,” a senior functionary said.
An internal assessment of the BJP state leadership found that internal sabotage was the reason behind the loss suffered by Dhami and few other candidates in recent Assembly polls. The Uttarakhand BJP is now identifying the people who were responsible for the internal sabotage.
It is learnt that the party has decided to find out reasons behind the defeat in 23 Assembly constituencies in Uttarakhand. The BJP also decided to find out the reasons for drop in the party vote share in comparison to the 2017 Assembly polls.
Sources said that the central leaders are likely to visit Uttarakhand to take stock of the situation to hold discussions and send across a message following the appointment of Dhami as the chief minister. The message will be clear, either mend ways or face the music.
–IANS