The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has appointed Uma Bharati as the election in-charge for Uttarakhand. The appointment follows the replacement of Vijay Bahuguna with Harish Rawat as Congress chief minister in the state.
The Congress had won all the five seats last general polls but lost the Tehri seat to the BJP in the by- elections necessitated after Mr. Bahuguna resigned from the Lok Sabha on becoming chief minister.
The BJP has asked its local leaders to immediately fan out to the villages so that the message of development from its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi reached every household along with the ‘corrupt’ acts of the Congress Government.
Welcoming Ms Bharti’s appointment as election in-charge, the State BJP president Teerath Singh Rawat said the BJP would emerge even stronger under her leadership. He dismissed as Congress propaganda rumours that one of the BJP MLAs would vacate his seat to pave way for Mr. Harish Rawat to enter the Assembly.
Riding on a sticky wicket, Mr. Rawat can be seen trying to placate all groups within the faction ridden Congress. He took MLA Nav Prabhat on his tour to disaster hit areas of Chamoli on Monday. Mr. Prabhat is a close confidant of the former Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari.
“We hope to regain the ground lost during Mr. Bahuguna’s rule and put up a good show during the coming Panchayat and Lok Sabha elections under Mr. Rawat’s leadership,” said Mukesh Chandola, a senior Congressman at the party headquarters said.
