The Bharatiya Janata Party is set to unleash its sole poster- boy Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Uttarakhand to whip up passions, reminiscent of the run-up to the general election 2014 when BJP swept the polls in the mountain State, riding on the raging Modi torrents. As things stand now, the PM would address three rallies in a span of few days. BJP sources say that two of his rallies are confirmed and they are in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts.
Significantly, these are the two districts from where the Chief Minister Harish Rawat is contesting. The BJP insiders say that the third rally might be held at Gauchar in Chamoli district from where the PM would try strike a chord with the voters of the hills. Congress under stress with its rival rolling out its plan to unleash its most prominent star campaigner, the ruling party of the state is likely to ferry the party president Sonia Gandhi to counteract the expected Modi tempest.
Talking to The Pioneer on Friday, former BJP state president Jyoti Gairola who has been tasked to frame campaign plans for the star campaigners of the party said that PM is all set to address two mammoth election rallies in Haridwar and Rudrapur on February 10 and 11 respectively. “He would tentatively address his third rally at Gauchar in Chamoli district. These three rallies would cover 42 of the 70 Assembly segments,” he said.
Observers say that BJP having zeroed in on two of the 13 districts for the PM’s rallies- Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar- has hammered home a message that they would not let the Congress poster- boy Harish Rawat breathe easy. Significantly, Rawat is contesting from two seats- in a first for any chief minister of the state- Kichha in Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar rural in Haridwar district.
CM has chosen Udham Singh Nagar for a special reason- to bolster the sagging morale of the party in view of the dissidents-turned BJP leaders reigning supreme. “Two of them-Yashpal Arya from Bazpur and Shailendra Mohan Singhal from Jaspur are in the fray while the son of the leader of the dissident pack Vijay Bahuguna is in the contest too from Sitarganj. Congress must be a bit nervy with less than two weeks left for the election as the possibility of Modi casting his magic spell on the electorate of the district which has as many as nine seats is staring them in the face,” said a state watcher.
The scenario of Haridwar is not inspiring for the ruling party either, given the result of the election 2012. BJP registered its wins in five of the 11 seats - Haridwar, BHEl Ranipur, Jwalapur, laksar and Haridwar Rural- with Congress being contended with three seats in its kitty- Khanpur, Piran Kaliyar and Roorkee. BSP also cut into the scene, securing victories in three seats- Bhagwanpur, Manglaur and Jhabreda. The tally of Congress rose to four after the widow of the BSP MlA Surendra Rakesh, Mamta Rakesh contested and won from Bhagwanpur seat in a by-poll on Congress ticket in June 2014. Similarly, the defection spree from Congress to BJP that started in March last year raised the BJP figure to seven with Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion, MlA from Khanpur and Pradeep Batra, MlA from Roorkee switching over to the saffron camp. Things are neck and neck with most of the constituencies poised to witness nail-biting triangular contests in the electorally the most important district of the state.
“The poll in the mountain state seems to be heading towards a dramatic photo finish with the leaders of the two warring brigades being set to cross swords,” said a political analyst.