In BJP’s bastion, party turncoat challenges novice Ritu Khanduri

Neena Sharma

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Tribune  News Service

Dehradun, January 30

A stronghold of the BJP, voters of the Yamkeshwar Assembly segment falling in Pauri district have remained faithful to the party and its candidate in the last three elections.

Now in the 2017 Assembly poll, reposing faith in the former BJP leader Shailender Rawat, who is now fighting on the Congress ticket, the Congress is hoping to bring a change in its fortune and wrest the seat from the BJP.

On the other hand, the BJP preferred to dump its three-time sitting MLA Vijaya Barthwal and has replaced her with a  novice Ritu  Khanduri, who has her father’s, former Chief Minister BC  Khanduri,  legacy to fall upon. It remains to be seen if the voters remain loyal to the BJP and vote for Ritu Khanduri  or Rawat who was denied twice a ticket from the BJP.

A grassroot leader who remained a block pramukh for 12 years from Dugadda block and was BJP MLA from Kotdwar in 2007, Rawat has his task cut out for him.

“Here, I was preparing in advance in the hope that the BJP would  nominate me from Kotdwar and when it did not happen, I was in a shock. Things happen for the good, I   have just 15 days to prepare. There are 165 villages to cover, it is a huge area,” said Rawat.

Significantly, the Dugadda block, from where he was a block Pramukh falls under the Yamkeshwar constit-

uency whose area was realigned after the 2008 delimitation.

 So in that sense, Rawat is  in a familiar territory  as the  20 polling booths and more than 60 villages that were part of Dugadda are under the    Yamkeshwar constituency.

The Yamkeshwar constituency comprises some portions of Lansdowne tehsil, Kotdwar tehsil and 165 villages. It has a total number of 83,484 voters (males- 43,919, female- 39,565). However, Rawat has another hurdle to cross, a former Congress contender Renu Bisht, who has filed nominations as an independent and she is not willing to withdraw her nominations.

On the other hand, after initially recording her displeasure by filing her nominations from Yamkeshwar as an independent, Vijaya Barthwal has decided to withdraw her nomination against the BJP’s official candidate Ritu Khanduri. So there is some relief for Khanduri. “I am now the official candidate of the BJP and will do my best for the party,” said Ritu.

Problems galore

The Yamkeshwar segment is beset with several problems and there is rampant anger against the sitting MLA Vijaya Barthwal, who is said to have not paid any heed to the needs of her constituency.

“An internal survey carried out by the BJP was not favourable towards the sitting MLA as there has been great degree of disenchantment in the public against her,” said a BJP leader.

The demand for roads,  hospital and proper facilities for attracting tourists in the area as the Koteshwar Mahadev Temple in Dharkot attracts huge crowds during Shivratri and Sawan month are some of the demands that villagers say have not been addressed. Besides, there have also been frequent attacks by leopards and other wild animals.

“We have been demanding the upgrade of the only PHC in the area, but the issue had lingered on due to the absence of land. The government managed to acquire land, the issue is now pending with the National Green Tribunal for the clearance,” said Jagmohan Negi, a resident. Further, villagers from Sayalinga,  demanding the construction of the Ggharat-Mundala road, have threatened to boycott the elections.