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Congress picks relatives of past, present U’khand CMs
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 9
The Congress today pulled off a mighty dynastic act in Uttarakhand by giving Lok Sabha tickets to relatives of both the incumbent and former state chief ministers.

While Chief Minister Harish Rawat’s wife Renuka Rawat is the Congress’ pick to defend the Lok Sabha segment of Hardwar that the CM currently represents in the Lower House, the party has banked on ex-CM Vijay Bahuguna’s son Saket Bahuguna to take on the BJP in Tehri Garhwal.

The parliamentary constituency is the only Lok Sabha segment among Uttarakhand’s five not with the Congress at present. The seat is held by BJP’s Mala Rajya Lakshmi. The most surprising announcement of the day, however, involved the nomination of Uttarakhand minister Harek Singh Rawat as Congress candidate from the Garhwal segment that fell vacant after incumbent MP Satpal Maharaj moved over to the BJP recently. Rawat was earlier booked by the Delhi Police on charges of molestation levelled by a Meerut-based girl, who said he sexually harassed her when she went to him to seek a job.

That apart, the Congress move to appease both the present and former Uttarakhand CMs is being seen in political circles as a balancing act to douse the ongoing heartburn in the Harish Rawat and Vijay Bahuguna camps. The two have openly been at loggerheads since the latter was replaced by Rawat as CM.

The party doesn’t want to go into elections as a divided house, especially on the back of the recent desertion of Satpal Maharaj, a formidable Garhwali leader and former Congress MP who joined the BJP with hundreds of supporters amid a show of strength.

The move, Congress sources admit, hurt the party’s morale deeply just before the election. Today’s announcements seek to contain whatever little damage possible. “The idea is to take everyone along and the candidates named today are the most winnable among the lot,” a Congress leader said.

With the nomination of Saket Bahuguna, two people from the Bahuguna family are now in the fray in the upcoming elections. Saket’s aunt and Vijay Bahuguna’s sister Rita Bahuguna Joshi is taking on BJP chief Rajnath Singh in Lucknow. Over 30 candidates contesting on Congress tickets are relatives of top party politicians, CMs or ministers.

It’s all in the name

Over 30 relatives of top politicians are contesting on the Congress ticket. Some famous ones:

• Shruti Choudhary, Bhiwani (daughter of Haryana minister Kiran Choudhry)
• Deepender Hooda, Rohtak (son of Haryana CM)
• Pratibha Singh, Mandi (wife of Himachal CM)
• Sandeep Dikshit, East Delhi (son of Delhi ex-CM Sheila Dikshit)
• Ravneet Bittu, Ludhiana (slain Punjab CM Beant Singh’s grandson)
• Preneet Kaur, Patiala (Punjab ex-CM Amarinder Singh’s wife)