By wresting two Assembly segments from the BJP, besides retaining one, the state Congress government now has 35 legislators in the Assembly, close to the majority mark of 36. Earlier, the state Congress government was banking on the support of a seven-member group of legislators known as Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) comprising three Independents, three Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators and the lone Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) legislator. Rawat will now be on a stronger wicket in dealing with any arm-twisting by the PDF legislators.

An ailing Rawat chalked out the party’s strategy from his hospital bed at AIIMS, New Delhi, where he was admitted for more than a month after suffering vertebral fracture. He went about his task by first choosing the right candidate and simultaneously focussing on BJP’s fault-lines.

The Congress victory has also indicated that Rawat, who took charge of the state on February 1, is firmly in control of his state government as well as the party organisation. The victory in all three Assembly segments, only two months after the BJP’s landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections, has elated the state Congress as well as the national Congress leadership.

Moreover, by winning his own seat from Dharchula in Pithoragarh district and entering the state legislature, Rawat has shown that despite being unwell and unable to campaign, he was in complete control. With the appointment of his protégé Kishore Upadhaya as state Congress chief, it has become clear that the Chief Minister would have firm control of the party organisation in the state.

In the past six months, Rawat, who was chosen by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi to lead the state, has been able to marginalize his detractors within the state Congress. The group headed by Satpal Maharaj, former Lok Sabha member from Pauri Garhwal, who left the Congress to join the BJP against the elevation of Rawat as Chief Minister, has been completely decimated by the Chief Minister. By sacking Amrita Rawat, Satpal's wife as a minister, the CM nipped any possible trouble for his government in the bud. Most of the Satpal's supporters have been won over by him.

The group headed by former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has been sidelined. Even after the appointment of Bahuguna as CM after the Assembly polls in 2012, Rawat successfully persuaded the party leadership to get plum positions, including a Rajya Sabha seat, position of Assembly Speaker and ministries for his loyalists. With the post of state Congress chief in his bag, all other groups within the state unit of the party have been sidelined.