Narendra Nagar (Uttarakhand): The large number of rebels in the fray for the Uttarakhand Assembly polls on February 21 are giving sleepless nights to the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, as they are threatening to upset the electoral arithmetic in various constituencies.

However, with the advantage of being in the Opposition and thanks to some deft handling of the party affairs by general secretary in charge Ravi Shankar Prasad, the BJP seems to be less afflicted by the problem.

The same cannot be said about the Congress, facing serious internal sabotage. With 32 rebels in the fray against official candidates either as independents or on the ticket of the Nationalist Congress Party, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal or the Lok Jan Shakti Party, the party is struggling to get over this "self-created crisis."

"Not true Congressmen"

"The presence of rebels is not going to affect the chances of our candidates. These are not true Congressmen and many of them do not have the ability to do any damage. The whole thing is being blown out of proportion. Many of them want to withdraw in favour of the official candidates but we are not going to take them back," said senior All-India Congress Committee leader and in charge of Uttarakhand affairs Moti Lal Vora.

The situation, however, is quite different from what has been officially projected by the Congress. Privately the party leaders confess that this is going to damage the party badly. In Dehra Dun district comprising nine Assembly segments, the party has to deal with rebels in six constituencies — Vikasnagar, Rishikesh, Rajpur, Sahaspur, Doewala and Lamax Chowk. In Chamoli district, rebel Congress candidates are in the fray against the official nominees in the Badrinath, Pindar, Nandprayag and Karanprayag segments.

The situation is no different in Pauri and Uttarkashi, where rebels are in the fray in Srinagar, Pauri, Ramkeshwar, Yamunotri and Purola seats. The story is the same in the Haridwar and Tehri areas also.

BJP's concern

The BJP expelled 16 party leaders, including a former member of Parliament, for contesting as rebels.

The party is confident that the rebels will not hurt the official candidates as many of those expelled are block level or district level leaders.

But it is concerned about the presence of Mal Chand, a sitting MLA from Purola, who was denied the ticket for "indiscipline" and is now contesting as an independent.

The BJP is also worried about rebels in the Pindar, Nandprayag, Roorkee, Lalgarh and Iqbalpur Assembly segments.

"The party is prepared to deal with these people. We gave tickets after thorough consultations. We do not expect such people to create much damage," Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

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