Rajpur Road seat not to be cakewalk for Congress

Jotirmay Thapliyal

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 5

The Rajpur Road Reserved Assembly constituency depicts the mix of old and new Dehradun. It is considered one of the safest seats for the Congress, but the party may not find it easy to win election this time.

The BJP, on the other hand, is banking on the 2014 parliamentary poll outcome where it got a staggering 60 per cent of the total votes polled in the Assembly segment.

The Assembly constituency draws its name from the Rajpur Road, which is the arterial road of the city, and among the most expensive commercial area of the state.

It encompasses the posh Dalanwala locality set up by the Britishers. A number of slum areas, including Rajpur basti, Nai basti, Mahatma Gandhi basti, Puran Balmiki basti and Naya Gaon, has a good number of voters. Karanpur, parts of Dobhalwala and Paltan Bazar market area, also form a part of this constituency.

The Rajpur Road Assembly that was reserved for the Scheduled Castes in the last Assembly elections is represented by Congress MLA Rajkumar.

In the 2012 Assembly elections, Rajkumar won the seat by a margin of 3,070 votes. Rajkumar had polled 28,291 votes whereas his BJP rival Ravindra Singh Kataria polled 25,221 votes.

In the 2014 parliamentary elections, it was a complete reversal of fortunes for the Congress as the BJP polled a staggering 60 per cent of the total votes.

The Congress won the Rajpur seat in 2002 while the BJP emerged victorious in the 2007 Assembly elections. There are several claimants of the BJP ticket from the constituency. While Ravindra Kataria is vying for the ticket, former MLA Khazan Das too is demanding the ticket from the constituency. Khazan Das had won the Dhanaulti Assembly seat in 2007. Former BJP councillor Jeewan Singh is also seeking ticket from the constituency.

Rajkumar is hopeful of retaining the seat on the basis of development works undertaken by him. He says his biggest achievement is regularisation of slums. The first Indira Amma Bhojanalaya in the state was opened in his constituency, he adds. “More than 12 community centres were opened, several crossings such as Buddha Chowk and Lansdowne Chowk were beautified. The Patel Park at Clock Tower, which was in a state of neglect, was also beautified,” Rajkumar says.

But Rajkumar’s critics say it would not be a cakewalk for him this time. “The BJP field a weak candidate last time which went in favour of the Congress. Rajkumar contested the elections in 2012 for the first time. This time he will have to convince voters,” says Surendra Dabral, a resident of the Rajpur constituency.

However, Ramesh Chandra Pandey supports Rajkumar’s initiative for ensuring ownership rights for slum dwellers. “This has been a longstanding demand of slum dwellers and the Rajpur Road MLA, through his persistent efforts, managed to get ownership rights for them,” Pandey says.

MLA hopeful of securing ticket again

Rajkumar is hopeful of retaining the seat on the basis of development works undertaken by him. He says his biggest achievement is regularisation of slums. The first Indira Amma Bhojanalaya in the state was opened in his constituency