© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
After the Lok Sabha loss in Faizabad, where Ayodhya is located, and the blow in the Badrinath Assembly bypoll, the BJP is going all out to prevent a loss from another seat that houses a major pilgrimage site.
The Kedarnath Lord Shiva shrine is situated in the Kedarnath Assembly seat, which will vote in a bypoll on November 20. The seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MLA Shaila Rani Rawat in July this year.
The first strategic step came from the trusted BJP playbook: announcement of major infrastructure projects. In the run-up to the bypoll, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had promised “to work as MLA of Kedarnarth until the new MLA is elected”.
On October 6, the CM visited Rudraprayag in Kedarnath and laid the foundation for 141 projects. The following day, he announced 14 more developmental projects in Kedarnath and adjoining areas.
On Monday, the CM’s office said a sum of Rs 48.36 crore has been released for repair and redevelopment of the Kedarnath trek route that had been damaged due to landslides and heavy rain.
And then, hours before the announcement of the bypoll schedule on Tuesday, the Chief Minister’s office sanctioned a sum of Rs 13.89 crore for other varied development projects in Kedarnath. The government also released a list of 28 projects, amounting to Rs 25 crore, which have been sanctioned in Kedarnath this financial year.
“As per his promise, CM has not only announced various development projects in Kedar valley (and other areas) but also has also started work on these projects,” the Uttarakhand government press release on the announcements read.
Sources in the BJP said BJP Cabinet ministers Satpal Maharaj, Saurabh Bahuguna, Ganesh Joshi and Rekha Arya have already toured Kedarnath and are in the process of drawing up a schedule for campaign programmes.
Along with the development pitch, the BJP is also looking to garner sympathy votes, with the party looking to give a ticket to Rawat’s daughter Aishwarya Rawat. But Uttarakhand Mahila Morcha state president Asha Nautiyal, Kuldeep Singh Rawat who was the runner-up in the past two elections as an Independent candidate, as well as party spokesperson Colonel Ajay Kothiyal are also reportedly eyeing the ticket.
In the 2022 Assembly polls, Rawat defeated Independent Kuldeeep Singh by 8,463 votes. The Congress stood third. In the 2017 polls, the Congress had won the seat with a narrow margin of 869 votes over Kuldeep Singh.
The Uttarakhand Congress unit is upbeat after winning the Badrinath and Manglaur Assembly seats bypolls in July. Party sources say 21 to 51 workers have been deployed at every polling booth in Kedarnath to look after poll-related work.
The party has also stationed MLAs Bhuwan Chandra Kapri and Virendra Kumar as observers and they have been tasked with the selection of possible candidates. Sources said former minister Harak Singh Rawat and former MLA Manoj Rawat are both strong contenders for the Congress tickets.
With back-to-back announcements, the Congress has hit out at Dhami and the BJP.
AICC social media national coordinator Amarjeet Singh told The Indian Express, “After Ayodhya and Badrinath, the BJP is going to face a defeat in Kedarnath. The way the Chief Minister (Dhami) is speaking about land jihad, land jihad and now thook (spitting) jihad, it appears that the BJP government has no achievement on ground to show the voters.”
