BJP’s Major Genl B C Khanduri n MLA daughter Ritu not campaigning for BJP in Pauri, Garhwal constituency

From Ground Zero, Pauri, Garhwal, Uttarakhand

Though the undercurrent running in a particular parliamentary seat can’t be the barometer of victory for any party on all the seats in a state but the fact of the matter is that the Pauri Garhwal No: 2 parliamentary seat of Manish Khanduri, the US returned journalist n engineer son of the former union minister n sitting veteran MP definitely seems to be in jeopardy due to prime minister Narendra Modi’s one sided wave.

There are rumours that veteran leader n former union minister major general Khanduri may join Congress to come out in support of his son openly. Such stories are taking the rounds in the social media extensively.

The impact of the saffron party n Modi Charisma seems to have a wider impact in rest of the four constituencies of Tehri Garhwal, Haridwar, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar and Almora say the political analysts. However, in Nainital seat Congress candidate n former CM Harish Rawat is doing his best to score victory against BJP’s state heavy weight Ajay Bhatt.

People are unquestionably floating over Modi wave and if any Congress candidate wins in this massive saffron undercurrent led by the PM, he would definitely be rated as a true mass leader with outstanding socio political credibility n gumption.
But will it really happen, seems to be the remotest possibility.

I am however talking here about the Pauri Garhwal consituency which had been the stronghold of Congress party till 1989, except losing in 1984 at the hands of late political stalwart H. N. Bahuguna n in 2009 when Satpal Maharaj won defeating the BJP’s Lt Genl.T P S Rawat.

The badly disenchanted anti BJP son of BC Khanduri is contesting from here on Congress ticket exploiting the issue of his father’s unceremonious exit from the chairmanship of the parliamentary committee on defence against the BJP’s not so popular leader Tirath Singh Rawat.

There is a direct fight between Khanduri n Rawat with the latter having a clear cut upper hand riding on Modi under current.

However, Manish Khanduri’s election tempo is gradually gaining momentum too with Congress workers in local market areas gathering in support with zeal n enthusiasm but not campaigning inside villages.

Congress’s Manish whose candidature has been declared quite late is struggling hard to win the losing race but the existing factionalism with the district Congress party and complete non cooperation from the camps of former MLAs from Srinagar, Garhwal and Kotdwar legislative constituencies viz Ganesh Godiyal n Surendra Negi has further eroded his position compounded with Khanduri’s inexperience, being a political novice n not able to recognise the important local leaders n workers n failure to extend financial n other kind of support systems to them.

The Congress’s block pramukhs and the former defeated party candidates though working hard are not being given due consideration n recognition in the election campaigning reveal sources.

The common workers and the local leaders find themselves in disarray and majority of them have either disappeared from the scene or marking their presence just for extending formalities whereas in the BJP camp their is no dearth of potential n enthusiastic grass root workers who are being fed with enough money and complete support system.

The Congress party’s flags, banners, hoardings and pamplets are not to be seen anywhere in the entire constituency with BJP flags donning on the roof tops of houses, shops n the market areas.

While Manish Khanduri is doing his best to reach in as much of areas of his Pauri constituency on roadsides with much fanfare, the crowd in BJP’s rallies and public meetings on the other hand is soaring tremendously.

The support of the common masses seems spontaneous with the local contractors, buildung, liquor n mininig mafias allegedly contributing financially n otherwise with the expectation to acknowledge favours in the near future.

Major general B C Khanduri n Ritu Khanduri father n sister of Congress candidate Manish Khanduri respectively, are conspicuous by their absence in support of the BJP parliamentary candidate from Pauri, Garhwal despite the former’s assurance that he will extensively campaign against his son, being the dedicated soldier of the saffron party, if asked for.

According to reliable sources the various block pramukhs n Congress leaders as well as workers are extremely demoralised in the Pauri Garhwal constituency as they are not being brought into confidence, nor given any preference, neither monetary support.

There is also dearth of the national Congress leaders coming in support of the party’s candidates in Pauri n elsewhere as compared to the BJPs’ extensive campaigning by prime minister Modi, BJP Supremo Amit Shah, Union Home minister Rajnath Singh, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari and several other Central leaders in support of the saffron party candidates.

Meanwhile there are reports that the Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is likely to address a public meeting in Srinagar on 6th of April. Let’s see what comes out of it to enhance the Congress party workers’ sagging morale in Uttarakhand.