Speaker Kunjwal gets people’s pat

BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, January 16

Govind Singh Kunjwal, the controversial Speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly, will contest from his home constituency of Jageshwar for the fourth time in the coming Assembly poll. He is known as a Gandhian leader as he emerged from the Survodaya movement in the region.

Kunjwal, a close associate of Chief Minister Harish Rawat in the state politics, came into political limelight when he reached the UP Assembly from the Baramandal seat in 1992. Since the separate state of Uttarakhand has come into existence, he has contested three successful elections consecutively from the seat. He became a Cabinet Minister in the ND Tewari government from 2002 to 2007. He was elected again in the 2007 Assembly poll.

After his third win in the 2012 Assembly elections, he became the Speaker of the state Assembly after the Congress came into power in the state. Despite his controversial term as Speaker, due to his alleged partisan role in saving the Harish Rawat government following a revolt by nine legislators, Kunjwal has been admired for his down-to-earth attitude and easy accessibility for his voters round the clock in Dehradun or his home at Jageshwar, Haldwani or Almora.

“Being a hard worker himself, he understands people’s worries and works relentlessly for their welfare,” said Raghunath Bhatt, a gram pradhan in Danya area of the Assembly.

“If compared to other constituencies of the district, the development works done by Kunjwal outnumber others and his work can be seen in every village of the constituency,” said Navin Bisht, a journalist based in Almora.

Kunjwal won his seat in 2002 after polling over 37 per cent votes while his nearest rival, Raghunath Singh Chauhan, polled over 29.1 per cent votes. In the 2007 Assembly elections, Kunjwal polled over 45.31 per cent votes, defeating his nearest rival, BJP’s Raghunath Singh, who polled only 42.5 per cent votes.

Due to the effective presence of Subhash Pandey of the UKD in 2012, Kunjwal could poll only 18,175 votes and Bachi Singh of BJP could poll 14,310 votes while a chunk of votes was taken away by Pandey, who polled 9,270 votes.

Pandey, who has now joined the BJP, is a strong ticket aspirant from Jageshwar Assembly seat.

Kunjwal is to face a tough challenge this time as BJP votes and base votes of Subhash Pandey in Danya region are likely to converge, giving BJP an edge.

However, his voters are convinced of his success due to his high status in the state politics and closeness with Chief Minister.

“His achievements as local MLA and former minister are enough for him to succeed,” said Nain Nath Rawat, a local musician in Jageshwar area.

Kunjwal claimed that his main task, besides solving the problems of the area, was to upgrade Jageshwar as the fifth dham of Uttarakhand and make it a tourist spot on the world tourism map.

“I have initiated the tradition of yoga festivals at Jageshwar, only to fulfil the mission of getting it a place on world tourism map,” the Speaker said.

He is getting sanction for Saryu to Danya and Doram village lift water scheme and some pumping drinking water schemes for the local villages. The Hari Prasad Tamta Traditional Craft Promotion Institute at Gururabanj village of the constituency, built for over Rs 100 crore, is his biggest achievements as local MLA and Speaker of the state Assembly.

“I have been working towards making Jageshwar Assembly segment an ideal segment in the state by linking every village of the Assembly with motorable roads and giving transportation and drinking water facilities to every village,” said Kunjwal.

But his rival, Subash Pandey, has alleged that Kunjwal started work only on over 40 motorable roads out of the sanctioned 150 motorable roads of the constituency. Initially, he could not get work for his ambitious drinking water scheme from the Saryu river to Danya and surrounding villages.

“Moreover, he could benefit only his nearest relatives and workers, neglecting others in the Assembly,” Pandey added.