The brown Innova suddenly pulls over. “Fresh pugmarks. Tiger movement,” he says, his neck craning out of the window. “Aram se,” he tells the driver. Spotted deer and birds too are sending out calls. It is unusual for the forested lanes of Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve to see an election vehicle. But BJP spokesperson Anil Baluni, having inaugurated the party’s election office in Ramnagar at one end of the tiger habitat, is on his way to the other end, Kotdwar, from where had lost the 2005 bypoll. In between lies Kalagarh, a cluster with some 4,000 voters, who are to be relocated as they fall in the core zone of the reserve. “You will have to prevent this relocation,” locals urge Baluni during his stopover at Kalagarh. They also demand a highway that would bypass the Uttar Pradesh stretch between Ramnagar and Kotdwar, because of which Uttarakhand’s people cannot travel from lower Garhwal to Kumaon without passing through UP, or the tiger reserve. A resident of Pauri Garhwal, Baluni is meeting party workers while travelling. And it soon becomes clear that from Kotdwar to Kedarnath, the BJP cadre has just one grievance: Congress rebels now in the BJP. In Kotdwar, Baluni asks local BJP men to end dissent. “He [Congress rebel Harak Singh Rawat] is our candidate now. Work hard.” The following day, his task is to ensure the withdrawal of BJP dissidents Tikam Makhuri (Karnprayag) and Asha Nautiyal (Kedarnath) who are contesting as independents. In between, he meets leaders from Khatima, a constituency in Udham Singh Nagar, and says: “They all are ours. Talk to them.” Baluni is not contesting but a buzz is on about his being a CM candidate, with even PCC chief Kishore Upadhyaya sharing this view. During his travels, The Indian Express spoke to Baluni, a wildlife lover who once headed the state’s forest department, conducted several postmortems of tigers, got poachers arrested and can distinguish a male tiger’s pugmarks from a female’s. There is a visible resentment in the BJP cadre. This is a trap set by Harish Rawat. No one is talking about the resentment against Harish Rawat. His party has been destroyed. His former CM, ministers and MLAs have left him, still people say that resentment is against us. He has created a perception that the BJP cadre is angry. Is it happening for the first time that people from one party have joined another? So you mean that Rawat is so powerful he can influence the perception of even the BJP cadre? No. Whenever the tenure of any government ends, it presents its report card. Harish Rawat is not doing so. He is rather asking for the report card of five BJP MPs. We will give our report card in 2019. It’s now time for him. The resentment is against him. Even Rahul and Sonia are angry with him. But the Centre has repeatedly interfered in the state. His ex-CM and cabinet ministers leave him and join the BJP, defeat a bill. What’s the role of the BJP in this? Do you expect of us that when his government is falling, the Opposition comes forward to support him? But you were seen as having been behind the entire episode. No, that’s not true. They should have first set their house in order. It’s 16 years since this state was formed. What has it achieved? I agree that it would take time to meet the sentiments for which Uttarakhand was formed. Not much work has happened to meet the aspirations. Our first aim should be to meet the dreams of those who sacrificed their lives to form this state. Your party looks like it has many leaders but no a single head. That is another trap. We have a galaxy of leaders. How can it cause damage? Having too many leaders would only help us. All of them have just one target: defeat the Congress. But the party seems to be divided into two — the native cadre and those recently imported. It’s not like that. It’s a media creation. But the party did face internal dissent. Was it necessary to give tickets to all the Congress rebels, who also faced corruption allegations, and to deny your own cadre? We will decide how to run our party. We belong to an ideology that does not believe in what we get, but in what we are required to do. As in a football match, a pass is given to the player whoever is nearest the goal. I am the national spokesperson, but I am not contesting. I am working as a defender from behind. So the core ideology of the party is only this victory? Leaders who have recently resigned say the BJP has sacrificed its ideology. What else would a deserter say? A great party? The deserter in politics would have to point at some mistakes. But, have people not switched parties earlier? In Delhi, many national leaders change sides. These are just a few MLAs. This question should be asked of Harish Rawat, why people left him. What would be your first few initiatives if your government comes to power? We have underlined two things — double engine of development. One in Delhi, another here. Second, Atalji ne banaya, Modiji sanwarenge. This state was formed by Atalji, now Modiji will develop it. Watch what else is making news So, you have a shortage of leaders, therefore Modi will be brought here to give this state a facelift? Modiji has become the symbol of development in the country. We have such a PM. If they don’t have anyone, and have only Rahul Gandhi, why blame us? In your double engine, who will it be in Dehradun? The lotus will be Dehradun’s engine. Who will hold that lotus? We are not a family-based party. Our parliamentary board, MLAs will decide that. Whoever is nearest the goal and is able to take the state ahead will be given charge. You oppose the family system, but you gave many tickets to leaders’ relatives. The debutant son of dissident Congress minister Yashpal Arya got a BJP ticket within hours. Sanjeev Arya is not known due to his father. He is active in politics, working on the ground. It’s not that we brought him out of his home and gave him the ticket. If they are active, and deserving. If my son or daughter are working hard, if they have their own image, have contributed to the society, then what’s the problem? There have been reports of dealings between the BJP and the Congress rebels. They might have faced inquiries and hence were quietly accommodated in the BJP. This is a trap. Anyone who leaves their party becomes overnight corrupt? Harish Rawat was leading them. The deal was actually done by him, we have seen it on TV [sting on Rawat]. We have seen their CDs. You had been saying for long that you would contest against the CM, but you have not even been given the ticket. I had said that “Harish Rawat is so unpopular that even a small worker of the BJP can defeat him, and if my party gives me this task I will do it”. I am the national spokesperson of my party. I am an envelope without an address. If my party writes the address of Tripura, I will pack my bags and go there and work for the party. I had asked the party for the ticket, but the party must have thought of some other, bigger role for me.
