Rudrapur: The Congress in Uttarakhand is facing a huge vacuum of credible faces in the important region of Terai, following the exit of top leaders such as Vijay Bahuguna, Shailendra Mohan Singhal and Yashpal Arya.
All three have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Terai region is politically crucial as it comprises 29 of the 70 seats in the hill state. Any party winning a majority of the share here has a huge advantage of forming the government, more so because Uttarakhand has a small Assembly and a few seats can tilt the scale in favour of any political grouping.
This explains why chief minister Harish Rawat left his traditional seat in Kumaon hills, and is instead contesting from Kicha constituency in Udhamsinghnagar district, which falls in Terai region.
The region primarily comprises three districts — Udhamsinghnagar, Haridwar and Dehradun.
The move is not only being viewed as a confidence-building measure among people in the Terai region, and also to boost the Congress’ chances of winning a majority of the seats here.
The incumbent MLA from Kicha is BJP’s Rajesh Shukla. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold a rally here on February 11. This has raised the stakes considerably for Mr Rawat, who has deputed his son Anand Rawat to camp in Kicha and look after the campaign.
In the 2012 Assembly elections, the Congress won two out of the nine seats in Udhamsinghnagar district, where Kicha is located.
Since the chief minister is contesting, the Congress wants to reverse the trend and add some heft to the overall tally.
While Rajesh Shukla is no mood to give up without a good fight, he is exuberant about Mr Modi’s rally. He said it will increase his winning margin.
“The chief minister has run away from the hills and is seeking refuge in the Terai region. He will be taught a lesson this time for ignoring this region,” Mr Shukla told this newspaper.
He said his father, Ram Sumher Shukla, was an aide of freedom fighter Govind Ballabh Pant.
Mr Shukla has deployed BJP heavyweights in Kicha to beat the chief minister. Bhagat Singh Koshiari and Lt. Gen. (retd.) Bhuvan Chand Khanduri, both former chief ministers of the state, have extensively campaigned for Mr Shukla.
The Congress camp is making the fight into a Mr Rawat against Mr Modi one. In the contest, Mr Rawat is a local boy while Mr Modi is an outsider.
