Making it clear that BJP would marshal all its resources to stop the Chief Minister Harish Rawat from having a cakewalk in his personal electoral battle, the party has decided to hold the public meeting of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Haridwar on February 10 in his first leg of electioneering in the state. Notably, Rawat is contesting from Haridwar rural seat aside from Kiccha in Udham Singh Nagar district.
Besides, the campaigning plan of the BJP National President Amit Shah for the state has also been finalised. He would address nine public rallies spread over nine Assembly constituencies- Pauri, Ghansali and Ramnagar on February 7, New Tehri, Bageshwar and Kashipur on February 9 and Gangotri, Kotdwar and Champawat on February 12. Many of these constituencies are important for BJP as Harish Rawat’s close aides are fighting from some of them. This aside, the party would rope in the Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in the campaigning. He would address a public rally on February 4.
Crisscrossing the politically crucial Pauri district for two days where some of the titans of the party are locked in nail-biting contests, Amit Shah would canvass votes for two Congress ‘turncoats’ and heavyweight party candidates - Satpal Maharaj and Harak Singh Rawat- who are contesting from Chaubattakhal and Kotdwar constituencies respectively.
Similarly, Shah would address a public meeting at Kashipur located in another electorally important district Udham Singh Nagar from a seat of which Harish Rawat is in the fray.
Political analysts say that the poll itinerary of the saffron stalwarts has been planned carefully in view of the party facing stiff contest in many of the constituencies deemed important from the electoral point of view. The dissidents remaining in the fray in some of the crucial seats are adding to the worry of the party brass.
At Ghansali, BJP’s Shaktilal Shah is facing the BJP dissident Bhimlal Arya who switched to Congress. At Ramnagar, BJP candidate Deewan Singh Bisht is locked in a tough contest against Harish Rawat’s close aide Ranjit Rawat while at Pauri, BJP candidate Mukesh Kohli is in the fray against Congress candidate Nawal Kishore.
On February 9, Shah will address three public rallies in New Tehri where Dhan Singh Negi is contesting against the doughty independent MlA Dinesh Dhanai, in Bageshwer where Chandan Ram Das is contesting against the sitting Congress MlA lalit Farswan and in Kashipur where the incumbent BJP MlA Harbhajan Singh Cheema is fighting the electoral battle against Congress candidate Manoj Joshi. All these Congress contestants are supposed to be close to the CM.
On February 12, Shah would address a rally in Gangotri where Gopal Singh Rawat is contesting against the sitting Congress MlA Vijaypal Singh Sajwan.
The seat is important as it is a jinxed one with the superstition enduring for years since the maiden 2002 election that the party winning the seat is to form the Government in the state.
Kotdwar seat is standing in a class by itself as the drubbing of the saffron party in the previous faceoff made the party sit in the opposition for five years. Here, the firebrand rebel Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat is locked in a close contest against the Congress’s sitting MlA Surendra Singh Negi. Negi proved instrumental in steering Congress to power as he proved the giant killer, making the BJP’s CM face General B C Khanduri to bite the dust of defeat in 2012 poll hustinfgs.