Lucknow, March 27: Behind Uttarakhand's descent into President's rule lies the story of a family three generations of which have turned Congress rebels at different times.

Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna was the first, walking out on Indira Gandhi in 1977 and again in 1980 after a short-lived return.

His son Vijay Bahuguna, who turned dissident after being replaced with Harish Rawat as Uttarakhand chief minister in 2014, is accused of engineering the current split.

Vijay's son Saket, 42, led the rebels who made public a purported sting operation against Rawat in New Delhi yesterday, alleging the chief minister had offered them money to strike a deal. On Monday, the party had expelled Saket.

Hemvati Nandan was appointed Union communications minister in 1971 after winning a Lok Sabha election from Allahabad and became Uttar Pradesh chief minister in 1973. But Indira asked him to step down in 1975 on the charge of insubordination.

Bahuguna, who belonged to Pauri Garhwal, left the Congress in 1977 and joined the Congress for Democracy, formed by Jagjivan Ram. Banking on the people of the hills, he had famously said: "Himalaya can break but cannot bow."

Congress for Democracy allied with the Janata Party to defeat the Congress, and Bahuguna was elected from Lucknow. But 18 months later, he returned to the Congress with another famous quip: " Bhanje ne mama ko mana liya hai (The nephew has placated the uncle)."

The obvious allusion was to Sanjay Gandhi, Indira's all-powerful younger son. Bahuguna was appointed a party general secretary.

The "uncle" won from the Garhwal Lok Sabha seat in 1980 but left the "nephew" again when he was refused a ministry. He was re-elected from Garhwal the same year as a Janata Party candidate.

Bahuguna returned to Allahabad in 1984 to contest the Lok Sabha election as a Lok Dal nominee. But an alert Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay's elder brother, pitted actor Amitabh Bachchan against him.

Amitabh's supporters coined a famous slogan: "Natwar fansa shikanje me, vote padega panje pe (Natwar is caught in a mesh; the votes will fall on the hand)."

Bahuguna's critics called him "the Natwarlal of Indian politics". Natwarlal was a legendary conman whom, ironically, Amitabh had played in the 1979 Bollywood film Mr Natwarlal. The "hand" was the Congress symbol.

Bahuguna apparently never recovered from the shock of a defeat by 187,000 votes at the hands of a " nachnewala" (a disparaging word for a professional dancer). His health deteriorated and he died in 1989 during an unsuccessful coronary bypass surgery in the US.

His daughter Rita Bahuguna Joshi was in the Samajwadi Party for some time but is now national spokesperson for the Congress and MLA from Lucknow Cantonment.

Vijay became Uttarakhand chief minister in 2012 but was replaced by Rawat in 2014 following charges of mismanagement during a flood rescue operation the previous year.

Since then, he has not passed up any chance to criticise his own party's chief minister. He eventually split the Congress with the help of eight other rebel MLAs.

"Imposition of President's rule is a good decision. The nine Congress MLAs would prefer a new government in the state," Vijay said today when asked whether he was interested in forming a government with the BJP.

The Congress leadership had tried to keep Vijay in good humour and agreed to his demand to field Saket from the Tehri Lok Sabha seat during a 2012 by-election and again in the 2014 general election. He lost both times.

"Saket is neither an MLA nor an office-bearer of the Congress," said Arun Pathak, who had managed Bahuguna's campaign in Allahabad in 1984.

"Still, he is calling the shots because he is the grandson of Bahuguna."

According to his 2014 election affidavit, Saket is chief legal officer with the Indiabulls group.

Rawat today alleged a role played by money in the rebellion. "If the people give me one more chance," he said, "I will ensure that a new Bahuguna is not born in the Congress."