The election drawing near, Ranipur, one of the 11 Assembly seats in Haridwar district is fast becoming a hotbed of intrigues and even muscle-flexing among the ticket hopefuls from the ruling  Congress. It is learnt from the Congress sources that many aspirants are coming out into the  open, staking claim to the seat. The belligerence among them is surfacing off and on particularly during  the rallies. Even things have drawn the attention of the Chief Minister. 

BJP’s Adesh Chauhan won the seat which has an electorate of around 1.40 lakh during the last Assembly election. Given its mixed population, both the BJP and Congress are sounding confident of winning the seat. However, BSP which has  remained a force to reckon with in the district is breathing down on their necks as it is trying to tug at the people’s heartstrings through door to door canvassing by its prospective candidate Prashant Rai.

Among the many hopefuls from the Congress side,  the name of Ambrish Kumar  is topping the list, according to the Congress insiders. Besides, names of many like labour union leader Rajbir Chauhan, vice- president of Zila Panchayat Rao Afaq Ali, Youth Congress leader Ram Vishal Dev, city party president Ashok Upadhyay, state Mahila Congress spokesperson Vimla Pandey and former state woman commissioner Santosh Chauhan are doing the rounds.

Things are grim with many of the ticket aspirants flexing  muscles to force the leadership to consider their names.

A few days ago, some party members met CM Harish Rawat and vented anger against Ambrish Kumar, the  likely contender of the Congress for the seat.

However, the district  leadership of the party is putting up a brave face, denying any squabble among the leaders over  the nomination. They say that the party high command would take the final call at the appropriate  time and the party leaders would abide by it without the least of demur.