Uttarakhand Kranti Dal finally makes the cut

Twenty-Eight years after formation of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), a party member has finally become a minister in the state. From being a self-proclaimed “field marshal” of the state agitation to a Cabinet minister, it has been a long journey for UKD leader Diwakar Bhatt. Despite being in the forefront of the statehood agitation, the UKD has fared badly in both elections to follow the setting up of the state in 2002. In the first polls, it got only four seats out of the total 70, while in the recently concluded elections, the UKD could only get three seats. Bhatt himself lost the 2002 elections from native Devprayag. His wife Indu Bhatt felt so humiliated that she committed suicide. Now the UKD has got in, courtesy the fractured mandate given by the people of the state. Short of one for a majority, the ruling BJP needs the support of the three-member UKD and three Independents.