To strike a chord among the people across the societal spectrum, Chief Minister Harish Rawat is playing a game of empathy, combining the traditional Harela festival and Iftaar party.
He has made the Harela festival an instrument to rejuvenate the State’s hoary cultural heritage. Iftaar parties are also coming in handy for the CM who is known for his uncanny ability to use such gatherings to his political advantage. And on both, he has interestingly focused himself on Utarakhand’s Terai belt in Udham Singh Nagar district.
Observers said the Iftaar party held in Baazppur in Udham Singh Nagar where aside from the CM, several senior State Congress leaders were present has proved instrumental in deepening the ruling party’s roots not just among the minority community but in the whole of the electorate in Udham Singh Nagar.
Things assume significance as the ruling party’s clout in the politically crucial Terai region has been waning for some time. “CM’s stakes are high as the region would prove important in deciding the outcome of the upcoming Assembly election,” an observer said. Congress is presently representing only three Assembly constituencies from Udham Singh Nagar district which has nine Assembly seats, in all.
Furthermore, the state Congress received a drubbing in the Nainital –Udham Singh Nagar lok Sabha seat previously deemed to be the party’s redoubt in 2014 lok Sabha election.
“Congress must win a majority of the seats in the Terai pocket of Udham Singh Nagar district to win a simple majority in the 2017 Assembly polls,” the observer said.
In view of the buzz that CM would try his electoral luck from Ramnagar, his public relation exercise assumes importance.