The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttarakhand is facing a tough fight within the party among ticket aspirants for the upcoming General Elections. Sources said that at least four aspirants are vying for tickets in each constituency of the five lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand. In Tehri lok Sabha seat, sitting MP Mala Rajyalakshmi Shah is facing threat from ex-MlA Munna Singh Chouhan.
Sources said that everybody is running after BJP parliamentary board for party tickets. Although the party high command has asked State BJP senior leaders to send their recommendation for each lok Sabha constituencies of the State all the three ex-Chief Ministers are also in the race for party ticket. Former Chief Ministers Maj Gen Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri is seeking ticket from Garhwal lok Sabha seat, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari lobbying for Nainital and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank eying Haridwar Parliamentary seat.
For instance, former Uttarakhand Forest and Environment Advisory Committee Anil Baluni and RSS Swayamsewak Mohan Singh Gaonwasi are also in the fray for party ticket from Pauri lok Sabha seat; former Union Cabinet Minister and State BJP president Bachi Singh Rawat and former MP Balraj Passi are in the fray from Nainital lok Sabha seat; sitting MlA Ajay Tamta and ex-IAS Chanar Ram are in the race of Almora lok Sabha seat and sitting MlA Madan Kaushik, RSS workers Shaymveer Singh Saini and Naresh Bansal are in the fight for Haridwar lok Sabha seat.
Interestingly, after induction of lok Sabha MP Harish Rawat as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Almora and Haridwar lok Sabha seats have become centre of attraction because both seats are directly and indirectly attached to incumbent Chief Minister. One more interesting fact is that in both seats BJP sitting MlAs are striving hard to get tickets so party high command’s single decision will create chaos in both seat. Although BJP MlA Ajay Tamta had given tough fight to sitting Almora MP Pradeep Tamta during last general election-2009 and other four seats were lost by BJP without giving any fight.
If BJP high command decides that no sitting MlA will be given ticket then three MlAs including Nishank, Kaushik and Tamta will be out from race. As a matter of fact Almora and Haridwar seat would be prestige issue for CM Rawat because the former is known as his home constituency and latter will have to retain him otherwise opposition within Congress would blame Rawat for poor performance in between 2009-14.
Sources said that Ajay Tamta is a strong contender for Almora seat while Madan Kaushik is being considered as a strong for Haridwar segment. If party takes decision to field sitting MlA in upcoming lok Sabha election the situation would be different after general election. Meanwhile, sitting Tehri MP Mala Rajya lakshmi Shah, who had defeated the then chief minister Vijay Bahuguna’s son Saket Bahuguna in Tehri lok Sabha poll and opened BJP account in lok Sabha from Uttarakhand in 2012, is facing threat from ex-MlA Chauhan.
Chouhan, who had deserted BJP by submitting his resignation from Assembly during general election -2009 and contested on BSP ticket from Tehri lok Sabha seat, joined BJP during Tehri lok Sabha by-poll. Now, the question if Chouhan would be denied ticket then party may face inimical situation during Panchayat election because his wife Madhu chouhan is sitting president of Dehradun Zila Panchayat. Now, all eyes are on party high command as to how they would settle down in house fight amicably.