Uttarakhand Assembly Election: Graft slur doesn’t faze Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on home turf

DOIWALA: Shunned by his party for his alleged corruption, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank is comfortable in his constituency where many don’t believe graft is a factor in the election. This is the only constituency where BJP is talking of Nishank’s long contribution. B C Khanduri’s passage of the Lokayukta Act is not even mentioned.

To add to Nishank’s delight, Congress’s Hira Singh Bisht has already given up. “They decided my candidature when nominations started. I wanted to contest from Raipur,” he says, waiting as barely 100 gather at a meeting to hear Congress leader Rajiv Shukla.

Congress rebel S P Singh is also contesting from the same seat and not sparing the use of money. This would further dent Congress vote share. Also, Nishank had decided 4 years ago that he would contest from this constituency and has worked hard at solving many problems here.

Corruption is simply not an issue. Restaurant owner Ganesh Rawat says, “Allegations are levelled against everyone.” Nishank has decided to outshout corruption allegations. He challenges Team Anna to bring evidence, failing which he would take them to court.

At a meeting in Bhanniwala with about 1,000 gathered to hear Nitin Gadkari, Nishank calls the allegations “erroneous and biased”. He adds, “In the last 50 years, Uttarakhand has not seen as much development as it did in my tenure.” Gadkari says charges against Nishank aren’t proved, unlike the 2G or Adarsh scams.

Congress’s hand in Nishank’s being in a comfortable position is not limited to delaying finalization of its candidate and fielding someone like Bisht. Many in BJP admit that for Congress any candidate who defeated Nishank might become too big for the party.