Himalayauk himalaya Gaurav Uttarakhand
BJP’s election committee is said to have decided on Friday that the names of eight of the ten such leaders, excluding the former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna and the former cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat, would figure in the first list that is likely to be released on the occasion of Makar Sankranti or a day after. It is also learnt that the party has decided to field Bahuguna’s youngest son Saurabh Bahuguna from the Sitarganj seat as per understanding reached between Bahuguna and the BJP’s national leadership when the nine rebels switched to BJP. The fate of Harak Singh Rawat still hangs in fire with the former cabinet minister staking claim to Lansdowne Assembly constituency which has a sitting BJP MLA. At the same time, the party top brass is likely to reject the claims of Rawat to make one of his followers Lakshmi Rana a candidate too. Similarly, the plea of Satpal Maharaj for tickets both for himself and his wife Amrita Rawat is most unlikely to find receptive ears. It is learnt that the party would insist on only one of them take the plunge. As per sources, he is trying to secure ticket from Chaubattakhal constituency which is currently being represented by the former BJP state president Teerath Singh Rawat.
However, the picture is still unclear about the seat Harak Singh Rawat would contest from. While the party is insisting that he should opt for the Rudraprayag seat whence he was elected in the previous election he is still clinging to his preference to try his luck from Lansdowne seat while clearing decks for one of his die-hard followers Lakshmi Rana to contest from Rudraprayag. The party is insistent on fielding Harak Singh Rawat from Rudraprayag seat for another reason. The BJP candidate who was defeated by Rawat in 2012 election Matbar Singh Kandari left BJP to join Congress after the election. Later, he came back to BJP after failing to do much in Congress. “However, the BJP state spokesman Virendra Singh Bisht laying his claim too to the seat is making things a bit difficult as his claim can hardly be brushed aside the way Kandari’s claim can be” said a party insider.
Sources say that the party leadership is facing immense difficulties to take a final call on at least three Assembly constituencies –Narendranagar from where Omgopal is seeking ticket as against Subodh Uniyal, Roorkee from where former MLA Suresh Jain is seeking ticket as against Pradeep Batra and Kedarnath from where a veteran is staking claim as against Shailarani Rawat.
Sources said that party has taken decision regarding 50 out of 70 seats. They further informed that the national leadership has made the following list- Saurabh Bahuguna (Sitarganj), Harak Singh Rawat (Rudraprayag), Subodh Uniyal (Narendranagar) , Shailendra Mohan Singhal (Jaspur), Pranav Singh Champion (Khanpur), Amrita Rawat (Ramnagar), Umesh Sharma Kau (Raipur), Pradeep Batra (Roorkee), Rekha Arya (Someshwar) and Shailarani Rawat (Kedarnath).
