BJP vision always growth oriented, says Khanduri
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 17
Countering Congress national president Sonia Gandhi’s allegation that the BJP had failed to usher in development in Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri said that it was BJP only which was capable of providing development-oriented governance in this hilly state.

Khanduri was addressing an election meeting at Khadkhadi hill bypass today at the time when Sonia Gandhi was addressing a Congress rally in Roorkee.

He said that vision of BJP had only been development oriented and not based on lofty paper assurances. The party had been launching development projects on the ground level.

“Uttarakhand BJP Government has been the first to enact citizens’ charter, a Lokayukta Act that has been appreciated by all, including Anna Hazare, and the Right to Service Act, which has been providing people with time-bound government office-related works,” said Khanduri, who was addressing the rally in favour of local candidate, state Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik.

He said that the natural resources and beauty of the state will be utilised for enhancing revenue-employment generating avenues such as adventure tourism and setting up of a film industry in the state by giving film production a status of industry if BJP was voted back to power.

“The Congress has done nothing for the development of the country since Independence, and during it’s governance, it’s leaders only wanted power. We believe in ideology and accountability to the voters, who chose us on the basis of our capability,” said Khanduri, who also addressed an election rally in Roorkee after Sonia Gandhi had left for Tehri Garhwal.

BJP expels four sitting MLAs, 17 other rebels
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 17
Wary of damage the rebel candidates could do to the electoral prospects of the official candidates, the Uttarakhand BJP today expelled 21 rebels, including four sitting MLAs, from the primary membership of the party for a period of six years.

The four sitting MLAs expelled from the party are Anil Nautiyal from Karnprayag, who is contesting the elections as an Independent candidate from the same seat, former Tourism Minister and MLA from Badrinath Kedar Singh Fonia, who is also contesting from Karnprayag on Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha (URM) ticket, GL Shah from Pindar, who is fighting the elections from Tharali as an Independent candidate, and Raj Kumar from Sahaspur, who is contesting from the Purola Assembly seat also as an Independent candidate.

Party sources claim former Chief Minister Nitya Nand Swami’s daughter Jyotsana Sharma, who has filed nomination papers from the Dehradun Cantt seat, however, was spared following intervention by senior leaders.

The other rebel leaders, who have been expelled from the BJP, include Rajesh Nautiyal, who is standing from the Ghansali seat (SC), Mahipal Singh Butola (Devprayag), Dr Aditya Kothari (Narender Nagar), Rajeshwar Painuli (Pratapnagar), Ram Ahuja (Ranipur BHEL), Subash Chanchal (Jawalapur-ST), Sanjay Pal (Khanpur), Chander Prakash Lakhera (Yamkeshwar), Manohar Lal Pahari (Pauri reserved), Madhu Bisht (Landsdowne), Jiwan Singh Danu (Dharchula), Govind Singh Bhandari (Kapkote), Kamaljeet (Bageshwar-ST), Bhuwan Joshi (Salt), Kailash Sharma (Almora) and Puran Mehra (Bhimtal).

12 rebels set to queer pitch for Congress
SMA Kazmi
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 17
The Uttarakhand Congress will face roadblocks on its way to regaining power in the state in the Assembly poll due to the presence of a large number of party dissidents and failure of the party bigwigs to win them back.

Interestingly, none of the Congress senior leaders as claimed by the party did anything worthwhile to persuade them to withdraw from the contest.

More than 12 Congress rebel candidates, some of them having the potential to mar the chances of the official Congress candidates, are in the fray. The party could persuade only a few lightweight party rebels before the last date of withdrawal of candidates on January 16.

It was stated that the central party leadership would work hard to persuade the rebels to withdraw from the contest and two central ministers, Ghulam Nabi Azad and CP Joshi, have been entrusted with the task. None of these ministers cared to come to Uttarakhand to talk to these rebels as most of them are still in the fray.

It was only state-level leaders who did some damage-control exercise but with limited success.

Harak Singh Rawat, leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader, is facing two powerful party rebels in the Rudrparayag Assembly segment where he is pitted against one of the seniormost BJP minister and his close relative Matbar Singh Kandari. Bharat Chaudhary and Virender Bisht, both senior party leaders, are in the fray after being denied party ticket. Bharat Chaudhary is considered a formidable candidate with his involvement with the locals in the past one decade.

Jot Singh Bisht, another senior Congress leader, has joined the fray as an Independent in the Dhanolti Assembly segment of Tehri against official Congress candidate Manmohan Singh Mall.

In the neighbouring Mussoorie segment, Godavari Thapli, is in the fray as an Independent after resigning from the Congress. She and her husband Upendra Thapli, a zila panchayat member, has sizeable following in the segment and will pose a threat to the prospects of Congress candidate Jot Singh Gunsola.

SP Singh, another party contender and a Harish Rawat loyalist, is in the fray from the Doiwala seat posing a challenge to Hira Singh Bisht, a former Congress minister and Congress candidate.

Aryaendra Sharma, a personal assistant of former Chief Minister ND Tewari, who owe his party ticket to the veteran leader, faces challenge from party rebel Gulzar, who will be splitting the Muslim votes in the segment.

In Karanprayag, the party’s official candidate will be facing SS Negi, a party rebel. Even Uttarakhand Congress president Yashpal Arya faces Raj Kumar, a rebel in the Bazpur segment.

Nandan Bisht in Badrinath, Deep Sharma in Rishikesh, Rajinder Pal Singh in Gadarpur, Ambrish Kumar in Ranipur in Haridwar, Srikant Verma in Laldhang, Manohar Lal Sharma in Laksar and Mahesh Sharma in Kaladhungi Assembly seats are other party dissidents in the fray, who will be blocking the way of Congress candidates.

Villagers have poll manifesto for nominees
Rajeev Khanna/TNS

Nainital, January 17
Disillusioned with the failure of the political parties to fulfil their poll promises, villagers of remote Champawat district have come up with their own poll manifesto, which they want the candidates to implement if they win the elections.

Residents of six villages of Champawat district have framed their “Jan Ghoshna Patra” and are asking the candidates of various parties to give their views on the manifesto containing a list of issues.

The villagers have pointed out that since 2007 they have voted in the panchayat and parliamentary elections and now they will be voting in the Assembly poll. However, their problems have remained unresolved. Leaders every time make big promises but later nothing happens on the ground.

They say after travelling 15 km by road from Champawat town to Sandark the people have to walk five to 16 km to reach their villages in the Kwairala valley. These villages are Joshikhola, Okhaldunga, Duniya, Mirtaula, Matela, Aamkariya, Masarka, Malaura, Gwad, Bhantola, Nekena, Barmi, Budakhet, Paali, Kota and Ghudchum.

The villagers say a road and other basic facilities have remained a distant dream. Proper educational facilities and drinking water supply through a pipeline and proper health facilities have also remained elusive. Though the villages have been electrified, voltage remains so low that bulbs are no better than earthen lamps.

Besides, the issues of crops being damaged by wild animals and lack of irrigation facilities have also not been addressed.

The villagers have included all these issues in the manifesto and are asking the candidates to give their views on it. They are demanding a pre-poll commitment from the candidates before they vote in favour of anyone of them.

Amrita Rawat visits Ramnagar
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 17
Congress candidate from Ramnagar Amrita Rawat today visited Kandala and Verpur villages in the Ramnagar constituency and sought people’s support.

In her interaction with the public, Amrita Rawat said the region had been represented by the BJP for long but the saffron party had not taken any interest in development of the Ramangar area. She promised all round development if voted as MLA.

Mayor: BJP alone can develop state

Uttarakhand BJP Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli today said only the BJP was capable of bringing development to the state.

Addressing mediapersons in Dehradun, Chamoli disclosed that the Dehradun Municipal Corporation had done works for the betterment of the city. The corporation in 2011-12 had provided drinking water, sewer lines and the widened Chakrata Road, all of which had been greatly appreciated by the people of the state. 

In Nanakmatta, it’s battle within Tharu community
Rajeev Khanna
Tribune News Service

Nainital, January 17
The Left parties are going all out to make the contest on the newly created Nanakmatta Assembly seat in Udham Singh Nagar a four-cornered affair with a level-playing field.

The constituency, which is reserved, is witnessing a battle among contestants from the Tharu community that is classified as a Scheduled Tribe. The battle is among Hari Krishna Rana of the CPM, Gopal Singh Rana of the Congress, Prem Singh Rana of the BJP and Bhim Singh Rana of the BSP.

Demographically speaking, the constituency has voters not only from the Tharu community, which is predominant here, but also from the migrants who have come from the hills. A fair chunk of the voters is the settlers from East Pakistan and West Punjab who came to this part of the country after being uprooted during the Partition.

The primary issue here has been the illegal possession of land belonging to the Tharus. Tracts of land that had been allocated to the community for agricultural purposes have been usurped by “influential” people from other classes and communities whereas these tracts of land cannot be sold openly outside the community.

This has led to the Tharus being further marginalised in the social spectrum. The issue is pretty similar with reference to the Bengali settlers as their land, too, has been gobbled up over the years. In case of Punjabi migrants, there are several issues pertaining to the peasantry. The Left has been working on these issues of local nature for quite sometime and has fielded a candidate who has been a leader of the Kisan Sabha.

Another factor that has come up over the past three months is fear among the minorities following the Rudrapur riots, which had led to a large-scale migration of people from the Muslim community from Rudrapur. Those members of the community who have been residing in other pockets of Udham Singh Nagar district have been scared since it has come to light that the riots had been orchestrated by people with vested interests who wanted polarisation on communal lines.

Besides, there are also issues pertaining to the forest rights of the community. Senior CPM leader Vijay Rawat said: “We have had a stronghold in Terai since Independence.”

No stalwart from Nainital, yet it remains key constituency
Rajeev Khanna

Nainital, January 17
Despite the fact that no political heavyweight is contesting from this seat, Nainital still assumes the stature of a key constituency. The reasons for this range from historical to socio-political.

To begin with, Nainital has always been identified as a centre of intellect. With the divisional headquarters of the region being situated in the Lake City, it has been the core hub of administration. The presence of Kumaon University and the High Court add to its stature of being a very literate and democratically conscious place.

Above all, this the first time since Independence that the seat has been reserved. This again assumes special significance as the candidates from the Scheduled Castes and backward classes are in the fray, while representing different political ideologies.

Speaking in terms of its geographical expanse, the constituency is a conglomeration of opposites in several ways. On one side is the high profile town of Nainital, which has all the major facilities available, and finds its place amongst the top tourist destinations across the globe.

On the other side are the villages of Betalghat, which represents the backward face of the region. The Betalghat block today represents a picture of utter neglect and failure on the parts of successive governments to take the basic facilities to the people. This area is devoid of medical, educational and infrastructural facilities like roads and power. A belt known for its rich cultivation of vegetables, it simply stares in the face of those who claim that India is shining and development has reached the doorsteps of the masses.

The condition is pretty same in some other parts of the constituency as well like some parts of Kotabagh block. In terms of its demographic profile, the constituency presents an ironical picture, as the majority of the 90,000 plus voters are from upper castes that would this time be choosing a representative from a reserved category.

The seat is all set to witness a bipolar contest between Sarita Arya of the Congress and Hem Arya of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The other smaller players in the fray include Vinod Kumar of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive)/UKD (P), Sanjay Kumar of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Dev Anand of Samajwadi Party.

For the Nainital town the main issues are enhancing the tourism-related activity and providing more housing facilities, besides a host of civic issues.

In the rural areas the main issue remains the provision of the basics in the form of roads, power, health and education facilities.

With sitting legislator Kharak Singh Bora having diverted the development funds towards the Kaladhungi area which previously formed a part of this constituency, the other areas have been left out in the race. Bora had unsuccessfully aimed at getting a party ticket from Kaladhungi seat this time.

The mood of the electorate can be gauged from a quote given by a semi-literate vegetable vendor: “Nainital is identified with progressive and educated masses. Our legislator should be the one who can be identified as the one who represents an educated electorate.”

Godavari Thapli begins campaign
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, January 17
Rebel Congress leader Godavari Thapli, who is now contesting as an Independent candidate from Mussoorie, began her election campaign amid a heavy snowfall here today.

Godavari Thapli, whose election symbol is ceiling fan, also inaugurated her election office at Landour Bazar in the presence of a large number of supporters.

Thapli and her supporters, undeterred by a heavy snowfall, also met voters at Barlowganj, Christian Colony and Landour Bazaar and sought their blessings.

Godavari Thapli is the only woman candidate from the Gorkhali community in the constituency.

Poll Snippets
Poll officials taken for a ride

Nainital: Election officials are encountering a unique problem. The problem being faced is that while the contestants are seeking permission for a public meeting at a particular venue, the actual meeting is being held elsewhere. There have been instances when the permission for a public meeting was sought to be held at someone’s residence but the actual meeting took place in a banquet hall. On the other hand, instances of posters being pasted on government properties are also coming to light. This has led to issuing of a series of notices to the erring candidates.

ND Tiwari in Haldwani

Nainital: The presence of former Chief Minister and Congress heavyweight Narayan Dutt Tiwari in Haldwani for three days has sent the political temperature in the constituency going upwards. The purpose of his visit to the town is still unclear. Politicians in the area are keeping their fingers crossed knowing that a single quote from the grand old man of Uttarkhand politics can have a major impact on the political fortunes of the contestants. The Congressmen, both who are contesting from the Haldwani seat and those in its vicinity as well as the rebels, are making a beeline to meet Tiwari.

Household articles as poll symbols

Nainital: Household articles have been in great demand as symbols to contest the Assembly poll as Independents. The symbols allotted to such contestants are very interesting. The candidates will now be seeking votes for a sewing machine, a flute, a pair of scissors, almirah, candle and even a cooking gas cylinder. The constituency of Lal Kuan saw a major tiff between two contestants who wanted to have the gas cylinder as their poll symbol. Eventually one of them had to be content with a gas stove as his symbol.

Team Anna to campaign in Uttarakhand from Jan 21
Tribune News Service

Dehradun January 17
Members of team Anna will campaign against corruption and other parochial issues such as caste and religion on January 21 in Dehradun, Haridwar, Rudrapur, Almora and Haldwani in the wake of the forthcoming Assembly polls in the state. They will also visit Srinagar on January 24 and a few other parts of the state on January 27 and 28. Former IRS officer Arvind Kejriwal, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi and Kumar Vishwas, members of the core team, will campaign in the state during the elections.

Manish Sisodia, Anna’s core member, was in town to apprise the media persons regarding their schedule for Assembly elections in the state. He said the team would be visiting all the five states where elections were due. He also denied canvassing against the Congress.

“We will not campaign against any political party, not even the Congress, but will surely awaken the voters not to waste their votes by using them on the basis of caste, religion, region etc. They should vote against corruption and must banish candidates with tainted track record.”

He said it was high time that the voters should be properly guided to make good use their precious votes for the right candidates and vote for those with a clean image, good education and background of serving people.

He also did not find anything wrong with the pictures where state Chief Minister BC Khanduri was shown posing with Anna Hazare. He appreciated Khanduri for passing the Lok Ayukt Bill, quite similar to the Lokpal Bill, as advocated by team Anna in the state.

But when he was asked about the contentious point in the Bill whether action against the Chief Minister and ministers would require approval of each member of the Lok Ayukt Bench, he suggested the opinion of the majority was the right criterion to take action under such circumstances.

GJM nominee in fray from Mussoorie
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 17
Making its intentions clear, Darjeeling political party Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has thrown its hat in Uttarakhand’s political arena by pitting its candidate in one of the Assembly seats of the state.

GJM president Bimal Gurung is all set to reach Dehradun on January 23 to oversee the poll arrangements.

Though, the presence looks symbolic, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha by contesting the Assembly poll intends to give the Gorkha community in Uttarakhand a credible platform. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha national committee members Ashok Kumar Biswas and Pankaj Chhetri had been camping in Dehradun for the past fortnight holding series of meetings with various Gorkha community grassroots leaders and trying to explore electoral fortunes for the party outside its West Bengal fiefdom.

“So far Uttarakhand Gorkha political parties espousing the cause of the Gorkha community have only played second fiddle to either the Congress or the BJP and heads of these parties have only looked into their individual interests, little caring for addressing issues pertinent to the community”, Ashok Kumar Biswas pointed out.

He said the GJM stood for betterment of the Gorkhas in the country and found Uttarakhand another much political fertile turf for the party.

Biswas admitted that the morcha is taking part in the present Assembly elections in Uttarakhand just to announce loud and clear its entry into the Uttarakhand politics. “To ensure a symbolic presence in the electoral battle of Uttarakhand, the Gorkha Janmukhti Morcha has put up a candidate in the fray from the Mussoorie Assembly constituency that keeps Gorkha community members in sizeable numbers”, he said, adding that the outcome of this seat would determine the party’s future programme and policies for Uttarakhand.

Interestingly, the GJM has preferred Jagdish Chauhan, a Jaunsari community member from the Mussoorie Assembly constituency as part of larger electoral strategy.

“Jagdish has been a state agitationist and and we hope to encash on the works done by him. His community’s vote plus the Gorkha vote has put us strong in the Mussoorie Assembly seat”, said Biswas.

GJM member Pankaj Chhetri minces no words in criticising the Gorkha Democratic Front and the Akhil Bhartiya Gorkha Morcha Party, two other small political parties.

“These parties claim leadership of the Gorkha community in the state but have failed the community repeatedly and are now even criticizing our entry into the Uttarakhand politics”, Chhetri pointed out, asserting that the GJM was here to stay.

Sanjay Gurung, an office-bearer of the Gorkha cell of the Congress, who joined the GJM quitting his parent party, sees much hope in the GJM.

“The GJM has a vast experience of electoral politics in Darjeeling and the party can be of much help in bringing Gorkha issues of Uttarakhand to the forefront”, he said.

“The Gorkhas have no representation in the state Assembly and no political party has ever thought of at least giving party ticket to a community member from at least one of the Assembly seats of the state, which has left us in the lurch”, he said, criticising the Congress particularly for traditionally cornering most of Gorkha votes. He welcomed the GJM entry into Uttarakhand politics.

Nishank’s vision 2020 forgotten, buried
Neena Sharma/TNS
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 17
The vision 2020 is one scheme that owes its origin to former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. It was a kind of road map for the state in the key areas so that it could emerge as a role model by 2020.

The thrust areas in the key sectors, including ayurveda, education, health, power, industry and tourism, were chalked out taking a long-term perspective. “We are preparing a long-term strategy by focusing on the key areas so that Uttarakhand could become a model state. This would not only increase employment but also prevent migration of the youth,” Nishank had said.

A committee was constituted under Chief Secretary Subash Kumar to earmark the thrust areas so that fruits of long term and deliberated planning shape the destiny of the state and it could emerge as a model state. A committee of experts comprising scientists and horticulture and medical experts was constituted and entrusted with the task of formulating schemes in the key areas.

Though an ambitious scheme, it soon became a mere rhetoric. Nishank too allowed the opportunity to slip away as without the urgency of a Cabinet decision the vision 2020 became a chimera. Incumbent Chief Minister BC Khanduri, who became popular with his own set of legislations, soon pushed it to the background.

“There was no goal-setting or new initiatives but only empty rhetorics. Take the ayurveda sector, the government first announced it wanted to make the state a herbal state. But except laying the foundation of an Ayurveda University and Ayush Grams, a precious little had been done in the sector.

The government even managed to invite Kolkata-based Emami Private Limited to invest in Bahawali in Kumaon through public-private partnership. An Ayush Gram envisaged the setting up of a Panchkarma unit, a health spa and also involving farmers in the cultivation of herbs. But the messy land transaction delayed the project.

“The project has also not taken off in other districts,” said a senior official. A similar fate awaited the power and health sectors where the government failed to come up with long-term plans. No long-term planning in the areas of health, education and human resource development was undertaken. The team of experts seldom met and failed to come up with new long-term schemes. There was constant wrangling and a precious little was done. Soon the programme was forgotten and in the new government it was buried forever.

Chufal seeking mandate for fourth time
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, January 17
With increased area and more polling booths after most of the parts of Kanalichina Assembly seat merged into it, the Didihat Assembly seat seems easy for BJP state president Bishen Singh Chufal even this time when he is seeking mandate for the fourth time from the seat. Chufal is facing Congress candidate Rewati Joshi, a new candidate to the Assembly seat, and BSP candidate Jagjiwan Singh Kanyal, a former BJP state vice- president, who joined BSP via Congress after leaving BJP. Kanyal has the benefit of being a local from Didihat, like Chufal.

The Didihat seat was created in 1967, and represented by Gopal Dutt Oza of Congress Party for three terms, followed by Lila Ram Sharma, Charu Chandra Oza and Kashi Singh Airy, before going to Bishen Singh

Chufal in the elections of 1996, who is seeking fourth tenure from the seat this time.

Didihat Assembly seat has a total of 69,250 voters, including 33,052 male voters and 36,198 female voters. After the reorganisation of Assembly seats in recent time, the Didihat seat has a large area forming parts of some areas of Indo-Nepal border near Jhoola Ghat, to areas of Berinag bordering Bageshwar district. The key areas of Talla Johar have been shifted to Dharchula Assembly seat, which might be a setback to BJP as this area had given the party winning margin in the last elections.

Asked what he did for the area in the last 15 years, BJP stalwart Bishan Singh Chufal said that he had linked every village of his constituency with motorable roads, and had opened 25 high schools and 18 intermediate colleges, besides IITs at Thal and Jaurashi and polytechnic institutions at Kanalichina and Didihat. “I have also got constructed 18 suspension bridges in my constituency in the last 15 years and sanctioned 7 lift irrigation and 3 lift schemes for drinking water,” said Chufal. Chufal said that by creating Didihat district and a lift drinking water scheme for the town, he had won the confidence of the people this time again.

The sitting MLA added that his was only constituency in the district which had electricity in all villages. Ten primary health centers, one community health centre and five ayurvedic hospitals were also opened during his tenure as MLA of the areas, said Chufal.

But the Congress candidate, Revati Joshi, thinks otherwise, blaming the BJP for not doing anything on the self-employment front. Joshi, being Brahmin herself, is banking on the Brahmin voters of the area. The number of Brahmin community is nearly 35 per cent in the constituency. “ Besides these Brahmin voters, the Dalits are totally with the Congress Party this time as nothing has been done for them under special component plan in the last 5 years,” alleged Joshi.

The BSP candidate, Jagjiwan Singh Kanyal, a former chairman of Pithoragarh Nagar Palika Parishad and a local of Didihat, has other problems in mind. “If elected from the seat, I will prefer to regularise all the buildings of the Didihat town as almost all the houses have been constructed on civil forest land in the town of Didihat,” said Kanyal.