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Khanduri to lead BJP's Uttarakhand campaign

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: A clear indication has been given by the Bharatiya Janata Party that Major General (retd.) Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri, MP representing Garhwal in Uttarakhand will be the front-runner for the Chief Minister's post if the party comes to power.

On Monday, BJP president Rajnath Singh announced the election campaign committee for the State. Major General Khanduri has been appointed president, while the former Chief Minister and head of the party's State unit Bhagat Singh Kushiari has been appointed member of the 14-member committee.

Mr. Khanduri and Mr. Kushiari led the party's 3,500 km-long "parivartan yatra" in the hill State in November and December last, touching almost all Assembly constituencies over 26 days.

Although officially the party is unlikely to project any Chief Ministerial candidate, senior leaders are hinting that Mr. Khanduri had a good chance of making it to the top job. Lok Sabha MP Bacchi Singh Rawat, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly M.S. Kandari, party general secretary Naresh Bansal and several former MPs have been appointed members of the campaign committee.

Samajwadi Party to contest all 70 seats

Staff Correspondent adds from Dehradun: The Samajwadi Party, which enjoys virtually no support except in Hardwar district, plans to contest all 70 seats at stake in the upcoming Uttarakhand Assembly elections.

Announcing this here on Monday, party secretary Vinod Barthwal said the aim was to register a presence in all Assembly segments and also win a respectable number of seats .

The party has no representation in the outgoing Assembly. It could, however, win the Hardwar parliamentary seat by promising to take that district back to Uttar Pradesh if its nominee is elected. The party is, however, silent on this issue at the moment.

The Rashtriya Lok Dal, which also plans to contest some seats, is going round the region promising to have Hardwar, Udham Singh Nagar and parts of Dehra Dun and Nainital districts merged in "Harit Pradesh" that it has been crusading for in western UP. The Harit Pradesh movement has, however, not gained momentum as the RLD leader Ajit Singh has not been able to win over the masses who feel that Harit Pradesh would mean a State of the Jats where other communities may not be able to thrive as at present.

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