Infrastructural development and employment generation are topmost on the agenda of Umesh Sharma ‘Kau’ as he seeks reelection from Raipur assembly constituency. However the situation is different to him compared to the previous time as he had defected from the Congress to Bharatiya Janata Party in 2016.
Raipur is one of the rapidly developing areas of the State with an increasing rate of urbanisation. The number of voters in the area has jumped to 1.68 lakh this time from 1.25 lakh in the assembly election of the year 2012.
Talking to The Pioneer, Umesh Sharma 'Kau' said that he would seek votes on the developmental works he had undertaken in last four and half years. “If any area in State has reaped the real benefit of creation of a separate State of Uttarakhand then it is Raipur which has witnessed unprecedented development,’’ he claimed. The construction of road network, tube wells, bridges, Rajiv Gandhi Sports stadium, sports complex and a new government degree college in Raipur are some of the achievements listed by Kau to the electorate. He said that if re- elected he would strive to generate employment in the area.
Kau had won the assembly election of 2012 on Congress ticket when he defeated senior BJP leader Trivendra Singh Rawat by a thin margin of about 500 votes. Though he has switched over to BJP now there are reports of his differences with Trivendra Singh and other local BJP leaders. Mahendra Singh Negi, a former leader of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and one of the BJP ticket aspirants from Raipur has declared that he would contest as an independent candidate against Kau. When asked, Kau brushed aside any resentment in the BJP workers for his candidature and claimed that all BJP workers of the constituency are with him. He said that he has a good rapport with Trivendra Singh Rawat (party candidate from neighboring Doiwala) and both of them would fight elections helping one another. When asked about the reasons for exodus of leaders from the Congress party, Kau blamed chief minister Harish Rawat for it. “He (Rawat) has destroyed the Congress in the state and what is left now is Harish Rawat Congress only,’’ he said.