BJP, Congress ready to cross swords as the assembly elections in Uttarakhand is barely a few months away

Uttarakhand, September 12: With the Assembly elections in Uttarakhand is barely a few months away, the battlelines between the two main rival political parties — the Congress and the BJP—have been drawn, with both having launched their poll campaigns.

The BJP, after failing to oust the Congress-led government headed by Chief Minister Harish Rawat through defections, was the first to hit the road with “pardafash rallies” throughout the length and breadth of the state, reports tribuneindia.com.

With 10 former Congress legislators, including former Chief Minister Vijay Bahaguna, on their side, the BJP top brass campaigned to expose the “corruption and lack of development in the state”.

The BJP has been targeting Chief Minister Harish Rawat on “corruption” in the liquor policy and land and sand mining deals by his aides.The first phase of the “pardafash” rallies ended this week with moderate success.

While the BJP drew crowds in the hilly districts, the response was lukewarm in the plains.

The ruling Congress too has chalked out a campaign to counter the BJP onslaught and to reach out to the people, focusing on the development carried out by the Rawat government.

With the BJP training guns on Rawat, the Congress plans to highlight the “step-motherly” treatment being meted out to the state by the BJP-led Central Government.

The aim is to project “victimisation” of the Rawat government to gain voters’ sympathy.

The party also plans to highlight the defections engineered by the BJP during the Budget session of the state Assembly and the subsequent imposition of President’s rule which was struck down by the High Court and the Supreme Court in May.

The Chief Minister has been blaming the Centre for the delay in development projects. Following a controversy over the passage of the state Budget, the state government had to convene a special session in July to get the Budget passed.

This delayed several projects, the Congress claims.The Uttarakhand Congress, that started its ‘Satat Vikas Sankalp Yatra’ from Haridwar on September 10, has decided to target PM Narendra Modi for not keeping his poll promises.

The promotion of constable Manish Rawat, a Rio Olympian who stood 13th in the 20-km walk, as inspector with the Uttarakhand Police has created a controversy.

He was given a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh for his Rio performance. The state government mended rules to promote him.