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(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com .)

A few days ago, amid speculation that his job was at stake, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat landed in Delhi to meet BJP president JP Nadda . What Nadda told him at their meeting is not known, but when he returned to Dehradun, Rawat was a visibly relieved man.The buzz is that Rawat has got the green signal this time to expand his cabinet. The chief minister can have a 12-member cabinet, but he has stuck to only 10 members since 2017. Of the 10, finance minister Prakash Pant passed away last year. Pant was believed to have been one of the frontrunners for the chief minister's job in 2017, but Rawat had managed to gain the blessings of New Delhi.With state assembly elections due in two years, the idea is to accommodate some disgruntled MLAs in the cabinet and allot others organisational work with high posts to prevent any rebellion. Sangh cadres are now believed to be working on the ground to assess the mood of the people. It's still in progress and so their rating of Rawat is not known, but a recent survey by a television news channel gave him poor numbers.Rawat's troubles of late have been too much in the public eye. Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy recently filed a public interest litigation in the Uttarakhand High Court opposing a new law on governing Char Dham and 51 other temples.The VHP has taken a strong stand that the proposed Devasthanam Board should follow the example set by the Ram Janmabhoomi trust. VHP Joint General Secretary Surendra Jain does not want any political interference or government control over the trust and in the management of temples."We do not believe in nationalisation of temples. It should be completely autonomous, and it should be managed by social or religious bodies. If the government has any plans, it should refer it to the autonomous trust for consultation. Secondly, all property and offerings should be used for Hindu religious purposes only. We have conveyed our stand to the relevant governments (central and state) and we will spell out our action,” Jain says.There was another incident earlier last month when he called a meeting of sants in Hardwar on holding the Kumbh Mela there next year. None of the sants could be spotted at the venue, sending red-faced officials into a tizzy. Several calls were made, but none could be reached. The sants had switched off their mobiles. Half an hour passed and the chief minister was still waiting. Senior officials could not gather the courage to tell him that the holy men had stayed away to register their protest. Finally, an officer who has a good rapport with the sants was rushed to persuade them to attend the meeting.That was not the first or last of Trivendra Singh Rawat's problems with the sants of Hardwar, the temple town on the foothills, which is gateway to char dham pilgrimage to the holiest spots in the Himalayas. It is an open secret that the sants are completely disillusioned with the CM. At the meeting they vented their anger over the slow pace of preparations for the Kumbh. The chief minister in turn pulled up his bureaucrats in front of them, and last heard all of them were working overtime.There are many factors working against the chief minister. He doesn't seem to have the connect with the masses, and voters are said to be disenchanted with his style of working. When popular Garhwali singer Pawan Semwal last year gave him an unflattering reference in a song due to his inaction on many issues, it went viral. To quell negative sentiment, the chief minister is expected to make some announcements on long pending projects. Following Arvind Kejriwal's recent landslide win in Delhi on a good governance track record, there is pressure on Rawat to perform. The Kumbh would have to be his first big step.Rawat's rivals in the party have lately been doing the rounds of the corridors of power in Delhi. He has hit back by challenging adversaries to prove allegations that he was not accessible. His loud reasoning is that the more he is criticised without any basis, the stronger he becomes. The bickering has reached the ears of former chief minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat. Which explains his tweet of February 14 that the state was moving towards political instability. The former CM's prophesy on a change of guard in the state however did not come through.CM Rawat recently held a ‘manthan’ session with his ministers and legislators, and announced new projects, including road connectivity to every gram sabha by 2022. But the road from Roorkee to Hardwar, promised in 2017, is yet to be completed. At the mathan session, MLAs openly aired their grievances and expressed the need to speed up developmental work.There are some who believe that if the BJP returns to power in Uttarakhand, the party would look for a more powerful leader at the helm. Some hopefuls have even thrown their hat in the ring. But Rawat's proximity with the RSS and the VHP - which played strong roles in the BJP ousting the Congress in 2017 - is well known, and hence what will finally happen is anybody's guess. Rawat now sits easy, but he is in for a rough ride ahead of the 2022 elections.(Bula Devi, a senior journalist, has covered politics for various publications for over two decades. The views expressed are personal.)