With BSP entry, Pharswan locked in triangular fight

BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, January 23

The Kapkot constituency, a part of Bageshwar district, is one of the most backward and distant constituencies. It was created after Uttarakhand came into existence in 2000 and was represented by Bhagat Singh Koshiyari in 2002 and 2007. But when Koshiyari went to the Rajya Sabha in 2009, Sher Singh Garia of the BJP won the election. In 2012, Lalit Pharswan of the Congress defeated BJP candidate Balwant Singh Bhauriyal.

Pharswan has been given Congress ticket this time too and will face a triangular contest as besides former minister Balwant Singh Bhauriyal, the BSP is also in the fray.

The constituency, representing the villages of Khati and Jhuni on the Pindari valley, besides most distant villages of Khati, Bharari, Badiakot and Sing, has been long neglected.

Besides lack of roads, health services in the interior region of the Pindari valley are also in a bad shape. The people are migrating to lower valleys of Bageshwar and Haldwani to educate their children as teachers do not reach the schools in the villages.

“My biggest work is to link these interior villages with roads and make people reach main roads in 2 hours, down from two days before I became MLA,” said Lalit Pharswan, sitting Congress MLA of the constituency.

According to locals in Kapkot, Pharswan not only got linked many interior villages with roads but also reduced the distance to Pindari Glacier from 40 km to 8 km by making 35 km road from Kapkot to Badiakot. “Besides upgrading the health centre at Knada from primary to community health centre, Pharswan also established 32 kv substation at Kapkot to electrify villages of the Malla Danpur region of the constituency,” said Ghanshyam Joshi, a local journalist of Bageshwar district

The people of Kapkot are of the opinion that Lalit Pharswan have done a remarkable job in linking interior villages to main highways. “Had the former stalwarts like Bhagat Singh Koshiyari and Balwant Singh Bhauriyal taken same pain the developing the Pindar valley villages, the condition of these villages would have been better today,” said Balwant Singh Kapkoti, a resident of Kapkot town.

The BJP has fielded former Kanda MLA and health minister Balwant Singh Bhauriyal, who is said to be organisational man in the RSS and came into the BJP from the Sangh. After getting defeated in 2012, Balwant Singh has been active in the villages of Kapkot and in contact with people of almost every village.

“The works being claimed by the Congress MLA have been half done as neither doctors are available in health centres, nor teachers in full strength in upgraded schools,” alleged Bhauriyal. According to a publicity campaign of the BJP, Pharswan is being projected as outsider as he belongs to Garur blocks of Bageshwar district.

The presence of Bhupesh Upadhaya, a BSP candidate, has made the contest triangular. Bhupesh, was expecting BJP ticket from the constituency.

“Om Prakash Tamta, who was denied BSP ticket from Kapkot, has decided to fight as an independent from Bageshwar. He is also expected to bag a sizeable number of BSP votes,” said Bhakt Darshan Pandey, a local journalist based in Bageshwar.