BJP denies tickets to 10 MLAs in Uttarakhand

NEW DELHI: Hoping to ward off the threat of anti-incumbency, BJP, which went in for a last-minute change of guard in Uttarakhand, has denied tickets to 10 MLAs, including a minister, and rewarded loyalists of chief minister BC Khanduri.

In the 70-member assembly, BJP has a strength of 36. By denying tickets to a little less than a third of its legislators, the party high-command has tried to offset local-level anti-incumbency, and put a premium on the candidate's performance and image.

Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, who was removed from the chief minister's post in September last year, was shifted from his old constituency of Thalisain in the Pauri district to Doiwala, located in the plains of Dehradun. Thalisain was wiped off from the electoral map of Uttarakhand in the latest delimitation exercise.

The party, it is clear, is also banking heavily on Khanduri's image to plot its return to power in the state. Besides nominating the chief minister from the Kotdwar constituency, replacing sitting MLA Shailendra Singh Rawat, the BJP central leadership has conferred tickets on a large number of candidates considered close to the CM. They include Vijaya Barthwal, Maganlal Shah, Harish Punjari and Ajay Bhatt.

The MLAs who have been denied re-nomination include, besides Shailendra Singh Rawat, Anil Nautiyal, GS Shah, Kuldeep and Prem Chand Agarwal.

Past elections have shown that national and state parties perform better than adversaries when a strong leader is projected. Narendra Modi, Nitish Kumar and Jayalalithaa, all of whom have swept elections in their states, stand testimony to this.

BJP is banking on this "face of the party" factor under the leadership of Khanduri, a former army officer, who enjoys the advantage of having an untainted career, both in his previous career in the armed forces, and later on in politics.

The party had earlier decided to project all three leaders - Khanduri, Pokhriyal and Bhagat Singh Koshiyari - in Polls.