The cold weather in the mountainous regions following the snowfall in higher altitude areas is being warmed up nowadays by political activities in the area. In the Badrinath Vidhan Sabha constituency in Chamoli district, the Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Mahendra Bhatt as its candidate while the Congress party has reposed its confidence on the sitting MlA Rajendra Bhandari. Political analysts opine that considering the current scenario, the BJP candidate might have a tougher time against the Congress candidate. The fight for the BJP candidate in this constituency is also appearing to be tougher considering the fact that former MlA from this seat and BJP leader Kedar Singh Fonia’s son Vinod Fonia is also contesting the election as an independent. In addition to this, senior BJP leader in the region Ramkrishna Rawat, is not happy with the party for not fielding him as the party candidate from the Badrinath Vidhan Sabha constituency. Though the senior party leader Rawat may not have openly opposed the decision of the party regarding its candidate, but is reported to have expressed his disappointment and views in a letter written to the national president of the party Amit Shah.
An aspect of the political scenario in the Badrinath Vidhan Sabha constituency was visible on Sunday, when the BJP candidate Mahendra Bhatt took out a road show to elicit support of the voters in the region. Though there were some supporters and locals among others visible at the road show held by the BJP candidate, the event appeared to be missing something with the ticket hopeful and senior party leader Ramkrishna Rawat giving the event a skip. Political observers opine that the absence of Rawat from the first road show held by the BJP candidate is indicative of the discontent in the party in this area regarding the allotment of party ticket. Even though Mahendra Bhatt averred that all in the BJP are standing in support with him, observers point out that the struggle will be tough to defeat the Congress’ sitting MlA Rajendra Bhandari. Bhatt further averred that there was no negativity among the BJP people here, adding that the BJP candidates from all the seats in Chamoli district would be victorious in the election. It now remains to be seen as to which candidate is able to convince the voters of the constituency to elect him or her to the Vidhan Sabha.