Other States - Uttaranchal   

It is no cakewalk for Indira Hirdeyesh

C. K. Chandramohan

The battle made tough by the presence of Samajwadi Party candidate

HALDWANI: The all-powerful Parliamentary Affairs, PWD and Information Minister Indira Hirdeyesh is engaged in a tough battle of the ballot with Bansi Dhar Bhagat of the Bharatiya Janata Party in this constituency.

The going is further riddled by the presence of Abdul Matin fielded by the Samajwadi Party in a constituency where Muslims form a good 25 per cent of the electorate.

This gateway to Kumaon was always a major business centre and Ms. Hirdeyesh has done much to convert the once shabby town into one of the most beautiful cities of Uttarakhand. Although she has nursed the constituency well, the high expectations from her and the anti-incumbency factor seem to be the factors on which the BJP is banking for a victory.

Although much progress has taken place on education, health and commerce fronts, the people seem perturbed by the large number of extortions and kidnapping threats from the underworld and Ms. Hirdeyesh seems to be making efforts to reach out to every household directly or through trusted workers to convey the message of development that has taken place during the Narain Dutt Tiwari regime.

She is considered the successor to the veteran leader in State politics if the party arrives at a position to form the next Government.

"We promise to continue with the pace of development established by Mr. Tiwari and people will vote for us as we are not communal or petty-minded like the BJP but a broadminded secular force," she says.

Mr. Bhagat also seems confident of a win as "the people are more than fed up of the corrupt ways of the Congress". "Why has Ms. Hirdeyesh not been able to establish a stadium or an inter-State bus terminus, work for the rural poor or get the traffic jams in the city tamed despite being as powerful as the Chief Minister?" he asks people appealing for a vote as the BJP alone could get justice to the region.

Mr. Abdul Matin, who banks on Muslim support alone as the hill people hate his party for the atrocities on Uttarakhand agitationists in the 1990s, feels he would get a respectable number of votes as the Samajwadi Party alone could develop Uttarakhand as a prosperous economy and provide succour to the poor and unemployed as being done in Uttar Pradesh.

There are 13 candidates in the race to woo 161,576 voters.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

It is no cakewalk for Indira Hirdeyesh

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu