Uttarakhand elections 2017: Yashpal Arya (third from right) switched to the BJP from Congress.
The BJP's strategy to wrest Uttarakhand back from the Congress includes a big outreach to the Dalit community, a significant 18.8 per cent of the voters in the state. The party is going beyond its traditional Thakur-Brahmin support base to woo the Dalit vote, which can influence the result in more than 20 constituencies. That can make all the difference in the hill state, which gave the Congress 32 and the BJP 31 seats in a photo-finish last time. There was a shadow of a difference in their vote shares too - the Congress had 33.79 per cent and the BJP 33.13 per cent.
Just before the elections - Uttarakhand votes on February 15 - the BJP has poached several Dalit and Other Backward Caste or OBC leaders from the ruling Congress, among them a minister in the Harish Rawat government Yashpal Arya.
Some saw Ajay Tamta's appointment as minister last year as part of BJP's outreach to Dalit community.
Mr Arya, a prominent Dalit leader joined the BJP last week along with his son Sanjiv and both have been fielded by the party in the assembly elections. On Wednesday, the chairman of the State Council for Backward Classes, Santosh Kashyap, and State OBC Cell chairman, Shekhar Kashyap, along with three other senior Congress leaders, joined the BJP.
In July 2016, when the union cabinet was expanded by PM Modi, many viewed the appointment as minister of Almora Lok Sabha MP Ajay Tamta, a prominent Dalit face in Uttarakhand, as part of the BJP's attempt to reach out to Dalits and OBCs.
On PM Modi's birthday in September, the BJP held a series of social welfare programmes for the poor including Dalits in all 70 assembly constituencies of the state.
After Yashpal Arya's exit the Congress has only one prominent Dalit leader, Pradeep Tamta, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha last year and is not contesting the assembly elections.
BSP chief Mayawati will give a tough contest to the BJP for votes from the Dalit community.
The BJP also has to contend with Bahujan Samaj Party chief and powerful Dalit leader Mayawati, who claims first right to the support of her community. The BSP has some influence in the Terai plains and Mayawati will hold two rallies in Haridwar and Udhum Singh Nagar in February.
Uttarakhand has 13 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Tribes. In 2012, the Congress had won six of those 13 seats, the BJP five and Mayawati's party two.
Last year, when chief minister Harish Rawat had to seek a trust vote after rebellion in his party, the last-minute support of the BSP's three legislators had saved the Congress government, highlighting that Mayawati's support base in Uttarakhand may be small, but she can be kingmaker.