The Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar parliamentary constituency has turned out to be a battleground for Congressmen of late, bringing the rivalry between Chief Minister Harish Rawat and his bête noire veteran ND Tiwari to the fore once again.
leaving aside many of his important officials assignments, the 'resourceful' Chief Minister Rawat intensifying his election campaign in different parts of the said lok Sabha seat of late as a 'one manshow', has taken the charge of the said electoral battle to counter the influence of former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Tiwari, who defying his health constraints, has also been camping different pockets of this parliamentary constituency for a fortnight or so along with his son Rohit Shekhar to gauge the mood of the voters.
So it is all about Congress versus Congress electoral battle that has come to light in the Nainital Udham Singh Nagar seat presently. Old hand in Kumaon affairs here are of the view that political rivalry between Tiwari and Rawat is not a new thing. It has been going on between the two stalwarts from the Kumaon region ever since they came in the horizon of politics. The rivalry between these two leaders only grew with the course of time.
Although Chief Minister Rawat is now at the helm of affairs, he is not taking Tiwari's political activism lightly. More so, the political activism that veteran Congressman Tiwari has shown, has not gone down well among Congress activists particularly those who are expecting ticket for themselves and their supporters.
The interesting fact is that presence of veteran Tiwari in this Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar lok Sabhat seat which has left Congress leaders particularly the ticket seekers of this seat unnerved, has also added to the worry of Chief Minister Rawat. So, despite his busy work schedule, as the party insiders maintain here, Chief Minister Rawat has started whirlwind tours of different parts of the region.
He has been visiting different parts of both Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar and Almora-Pithoragarh parliamentary constituencies for the past three days regularly. Rawat visited Someshear, lohaghat to name a few areas of Almora-Pithoragarh parliamentary constituency on Monday.
And if his sudden visit of Haldwani on late Tuesday night took people by surprise, he intensively campaigned in different parts of Udham Singh Nagar district including Nanakmatta, Khatima to name a few areas on Wednesday to reach out to the people in this Terai region of the mountain state where former Chief Minister Tiwari has already been camping for many days to reconnect with the electorate and his supporters of this region.
The matter of fact is that Chief Miniser Rawat may have survived the blow that Pauri strong man Stapal Maharaj has given to the Congress Party, losing electoral battles in the upcoming general elections in the state may prove to be costly affair for the Chief Minister Rawat who is facing many challenges from within the party and the Government presently. However, he looked optimistic about his journey as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, saying obstacles are there but together we can resolve all these concern. First of all we have to reach out to the victims of natural disaster. Then we can also address other concerns like assigning of responsibilities among ministers and some party leaders, he added.