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Congress, BJP fight it out in Haldwani

Tara Shankar Sahay in Haldwani

Congress candidate Indira Hridesh has posed a tough challenge to Uttaranchal Agriculture Minister Bansidhar Bhagat of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Haldwani assembly seat. The two command a lot of influence in the urban and rural pockets of Haldwani.

They are vying for honours among the floating voters of this constituency. However, while the Congress candidate is optimistic of defeating the state agriculture minister, the latter is confident that his traditional vote bank in the adjoining villages will carry him past the finish line.

For all practical purposes, it's a straight fight between the Congress and the BJP, although Samajwadi Party's Abdul Mateen Siddique and the Bahujan Samaj Party's Abdul Kavi are also present among the 13 candidates.

The constituency's 1,22,000 voters comprise Brahmins, Rajputs and approximately 20,000 Muslims and others in negligible numbers. The locals assert that even if 50-60 percent of the votes are polled, the fight between the two major contenders will be close.

Apart from raising the much-hyped issue of non-development by the state government in Haldwani, Hridesh has levelled a bunch of allegations against Bhagat.

"The people want to know how much development has taken place. The BJP replaced the chief minister (Nityanand Swami) with someone (B S Koshiari) who is out of touch with reality," Hridesh told rediff.com from the party office in Hotel Saurabh.

She then launched into a lengthy diatribe against Bhagat, alleging that the minister had failed to give an account of the Rs 250 million generated from the mandi parishad (market association).

"Bhagat has to explain why he played such a decisive role in discouraging Nainital from being declared the capital of Uttaranchal," she said, and added that if it had happened, Haldwani would have benefited immensely in terms of employment opportunities, considering its proximity to the famous tourist spot.

A Congress candidate and her party activists say that the Nainital hotel industry had successfully lobbied with Bhagat, as it did not want to be declared the capital of the state. The hoteliers feared that if Nainital became the capital, ministers and bureaucrats would be perpetually based in their hotels.

The Congress has also raised the issues of irrigation water being denied to farmers, the doubling of taxes, and the non-payment of salaries to local teachers.

Hridesh is a teacher of political science in which she had acquired a doctorate. She is utilising her considerable political savvy acquired during her three tenures as a member of the legislative council.

That the Congress has launched a major campaign was witnessed on Sunday as Hridesh's cavalcade of 30 cars and vans proceeded through the dirty and serpentine lanes of the town with many curious onlookers following its sluggish process.

"An ineffectual government has to be promptly changed... Eradicate corruption, Bhagat please spare us and go," the Congress workers chanted from loudspeakers.

But Bhagat is unfazed. As a native of Kusumkhera, a village on the outskirts of Haldwani, he has built roads and provided amenities to the villagers and those of the adjoining Dhoalchaur and Lamachaur villages.

"I am a villagers, the development of villages is my first priority," he said.

He told rediff.com that "my party workers do not make needless noises, they are working silently for my victory".

His optimism emanates from the fact that the rural pockets around Haldwani have traditionally voted for the BJP and he believes that the voters will not let him down.

Asked why after thrice winning from Nainital he was seeking election from Haldwani, he contended: "I was born here."

The two Muslim candidates -- Siddique of the Samajwadi Party and Kavi of the BSP -- have called for a change of government, which both describe as self-seeking and corrupt.

But a veteran local observer, STD booth operator Madan Singh whose tiny kiosk is on Station Bazar Road, says that since the fight between the Congress and the BJP will be closely contested, there is a possibility of a dark horse emerging from the two Muslim candidates.

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