Navprabhat vs Munna fight likely again

Jotirmay Thapliyal

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 12

The Vikasnagar Assembly constituency in Dehradun has witnessed some interesting contests in the Assembly elections in the past as candidates had won by a narrow margin.

Senior Congress leader Navprabhat is likely to get the party ticket from this constituency. Navprabhat, who lost his only son a few months ago, is expected to garner sympathy vote. He has won the Vikasnagar seat three times in Uttarakhand.

He draws strength from his father, late Union Petroleum Minister Brahmadutt Sharma, who played a key role in the region’s development.

In the first Assembly elections in the state in 2002, Congress candidate Navprabhat bagged a narrow victory when he defeated Uttarakhand Janwadi Party’s Munna Singh Chauhan by a margin of mere 58 votes. Navprabhat polled 8,971 votes whereas Munna Singh Chauhan had got 8,913 votes.

Subsequently, Navprabhat went on to become the Forest Minister in the ND Tiwari government of Uttarakhand. Being a relative of ND Tiwari, he was one of most influential ministers in the Tiwari government.

In the 2007 Assembly elections, it was a reverse of fortune for Navprabhat as Munna Singh Chauhan contesting on a BJP ticket defeated him with a big margin of 5,156 votes. But shortly thereafter in 2009, an ambitious Chauhan resigned from his Assembly seat and also from the BJP to contest parliamentary poll from Tehri Garhwal on the Bahujan Samaj Party ticket that he lost to Vijay Bahuguna.

This necessitated a bypoll in Vikasnagar. In the 2009 bypoll for this seat, both Navprabhat (Congress) and Munna Singh Chauhan (Independent) lost to a relatively political novice, Kuldeep Kumar of the BJP. Kuldeep defeated his nearest rival Munna Singh Chauhan by 596 votes. The victory of Kuldeep was also attributed to the fact that a BJP government, headed by Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, was at the helm in Uttarakhand at that time and the ruling government had put its entire strength on Vikasnagar to ensure victory.

In 2012, it was a comeback for Navprabhat as he defeated both Kuldeep Kumar and Munna Singh Chauhan by 9,000 votes.

Now, the Congress is once again expected to bank on Navprabhat for retaining the Vikasnagar seat. For the BJP, Munna Singh Chauhan will be the best bet once again.

In case Munna Singh Chauhan is given a ticket from Chakrata, then the BJP will have to search for another strong candidate from this seat. Ram Sharan Nautiyal is among the ticket claimants for the saffron party.

Navprabhat is solely banking on the development works undertaken by him. “All promises made by me have been fulfilled. Vikasnagar will soon turn out to be a fast developing constituency. Even as Transport Minister, with whatever time I got, I performed my best for the development of the constituency,” he says.

Political analyst from Vikasnagar, Raghunath Singh Negi, says the strength of both Congress and the BJP can be gauged once they announce their candidates.

“The Congress is almost sure to field Navprabhat from this constituency. The BJP is yet to find a suitable candidate. The BJP can pose a challenge only if it gives ticket to an individual who has the ability to attract Muslim voters, who have a considerable share in the populace,” he adds.

The Vikasnagar Assembly constituency consists of the tribal Jaunsari community, Garhwalis, Muslims and others.

BJP leader Munna Singh Chauhan is one of the strong contenders of the ticket. However, several candidates are expecting the party nomination. During his political career he has switched parties a number of times. He has proved himself a tough contestant in every poll.