BJP not to field candidate for Rajya Sabha seat

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 30

The Uttarakhand BJP has decided not to field any candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat for which election will be held on June 11.

State BJP president Ajay Bhatt, while addressing mediapersons here today, said the party had decided against fielding a candidate.

“We do not have the required numbers so it will be difficult to garner support for our candidate. We do not want to get into a problematic situation. But in case an independent candidate approaches us for support, we may consider supporting him,” said Bhatt.

The members of the core group of the BJP held a meeting today in which issues related to the party affairs and the forthcoming Assembly elections were discussed.

Bhatt said Amit Shah, national president of the BJP, would address a public rally in Haldwani on June 26. “We have to focus on the Kumaon region also. So a public rally has been planned on June 26,” he said.

Further, on June 27 in Haldwani, a meeting of the BJP board has also been planned in which BJP MLAs, MPs, office-bearers of panchayats, local bodies, cooperatives and various party units will also participate.

It is worth mentioning here that the Congress and members of its ally Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) are at loggerheads over the nomination to the Rajya Sabha seat from Uttarakhand. The Congress has fielded Pradeep Tamta as the party candidate.

The PDF is learnt to have been pushing for Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Dinesh Dhanai (Independent) for the RS nomination.

Amid political turmoil in the state after nine Congress legislators had rebelled against the government in March this year, the Central Government had imposed President rule in the state.

After getting directions from the Supreme Court to hold floor test, Harish Rawat managed to return to power with the support of six legislators of the PDF. Now, any change in the number game can spell fresh trouble for the Congress.

Despite diplomacy, PDF’s Dhanai adamant

Though Chief Minister Harish Rawat with the help of  the Congress central leadership on Monday managed to convince Cabinet minister and senior Congress leader Yashpal Arya to support the candidature of Pradeep Tamta, the open challenge to Tamta’s candidature by a PDF member and Cabinet minister Dinesh Dhanai continues to linger on despite firefighting efforts by the Congress. After successfully bringing around Yashpal Arya, the Chief Minister is banking on dinner diplomacy which he has planned tonight for his Cabinet ministers and MLAs. Earlier, Harish Rawat had sent his adviser Ranjit Rawat to hold talks with Dinesh Dhanai, who remained adamant as ever. However, much to the relief of the Congress, two PDF members, Cabinet minister Mantri Prasad Naithani and Durgapal, are said to be veering around supporting Dhanai only if the Congress supports him, thereby negating efforts of a tie-up with the BJP.  “At this point, nothing is certain. The Chief Minister is expected to hold another round of talks with the PDF leaders. As tomorrow is the last day of filing the nominations, things will become clear only then,” said a senior Congress leader. Meanwhile, to placate Cabinet minister Yashpal Arya, a district magistrate BK Sant has been posted in Udham Singh Nagar in place of Akshat Gupta who has now been transferred to the Dehradun Secretariat as Additional Secretary, Excise.