There is no fight, we are winning hands down. People want development and corruption free India and will vote for Modiji, says Karan Singh, campaign head of Yatishwaranand
When Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat chose Haridwar Rural to fight 2017 Assembly elections besides Kichha seat in Udham Singh Nagar, he, perhaps, had multiple reasons in mind.
The chief among them were that Congress candidate Irshad Ali lost 2012 elections against his BJP rival, sitting MLA, Swami Yatishwaranand by a small margin of 3,500 votes in the Muslim-dominated constituency, his daughter Anupama Rawat has been working hard for the past 6-7 years and his candidature may lead to a positive impact on the 10 other Assembly seats that fall in the Haridwar Lok Sabha segment.
Yet, winning Haridwar Rural may mot prove to be a cakewalk for Rawat who is fighting the brand image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of a “Vikas Purush”. Besides, Rawat has to ward off Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Mukarram Ansari’s threat of denting the Muslim-Dalit base of the Congress.
But Tabrez Alam, 28, one of the key aides of Rawat in Haridwar Rural, does not feel threatened.
“The BSP will not be able to make any dent as sharing boundary with Uttar Pradesh, Haridwar Rural is influenced by its politics as well and the SP-Congress alliance has bolstered our strength in Muslim community. Moreover, voters know that Rawatji had brought Mukarram Ansari is politics who became a renegade for personal ambition. Moreover, BJP’s sitting MLA Yatishwaranand has not done any development work,” says Tabrez.
However, buoyant after the 2014 results that fetched it 5 out of 5 Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand, the BJP is still hopeful of playing up the Modi card. All hoardings feature Modi’s face prominently on the left and the candidate’s photo on the right with pouring of key BJP state leaders in the middle.
“There is no fight, we are winning hands down. People want development and corruption free India and will vote for Modiji” says Karan Singh, campaign head of Yatishwaranand.
When quizzed about work done by Yatishwaranand, he says, “He made several roads to connect villages and was the prime mover to get the work initiated on Ravasan river that connects remote Lal Dhang. Moreover, he is a sanyasi without any family like Modiji.”
Singh is confident that Yatishwaranand will tide over anti-incumbency because of demonetization and surgical strikes.
Besides Modi phenomenon, the BJP is banking upon displaced Garhwalis from Tehri in Lal Dhnag area that has good number of retired army men, Chouhans and OBCs like Sainis, Kashyaps and Jheevers to ensure a win.
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