BSP denies Assembly ticket to 3-time legislator Hari Das

Sandeep Rawat

Tribune News Service

Haridwar, December 15

Three-time Bahujan Samaj Party legislator Hari Das is one of the few legislators who has won all three Assembly elections held since the creation of Uttarakhand in 2000.

But the BSP leadership decision to deny him the ticket for the 2017 Assembly elections has shattered Hari Das’s hope of making it a record 4th time in the Assembly.

The BSP has named Bhagmal as the party’s official candidate from the Jhabrera Assembly seat, which has put question mark on the future of seasoned politician Hari Das, who is currently the chairperson of the Haridwar-Roorkee Development Authority.

Bhagmal and Hari Das hail from Lathar Deva village and both have a political grip in the area. Bhagmal’s wife is a Zila Panchayat member while his son Jitendra had defeated Hari Das’s son Aditya in the last Zila Pancahayat elections from Kumradi. Jitendra then went on to become the block president, strengthening Bhagmal’s political clout in the area.

In between, Hari Das became close to Chief Minister Harish Rawat and was appointed chairperson of the Haridwar-Roorkee Development Authority. This didn’t go down well with the BSP leadership, which suspended him from the party’s primary membership.

Later, when Hari Das clarified his stance he was again brought back into the BSP and had started preparing for the Assembly election from Jhabrera.

But, Hari Das closeness to the Congress, and Bhagmal’s political rise seems to have dashed his (Hari Das) chances of getting the BSP ticket.

Hari Das in 2002 had won from the Landaura Assembly segment for the first time and then replicated the feat in 2007 elections too.

But, due to delimitation Landaura Assembly segment was merged with other nearby segments and a new Assembly segment Jhabrera was formed. Here too Hari Das showed his political prowess and won for the third time. Now, the chances of his entry for record fourth straight time are quite dim, though if he joins the Congress and given the ticket, he may get a chance to do so.

A close aide of Hari Das from Landuara, who has campaigned with him in all three previous Assembly elections, said Hari Das had not been given reason by the party high command of denying the ticket.

“Already communications from the Congress, BJP, Samajwadi Party and even Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha are being made to the legislator, but only after taking opinion of his supporters Hari Das will take any decision on his future electoral prospects,” he added.