Uttarakhand Assembly elections: BJP deletes former CM

GOPESHWAR (Uttarakhand): Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri is the sole rallying point and spokesperson for a party beleaguered by allegations of corruption during the rule of his predecessor Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’. Many in BJP call the previous CM kalank but they know the damage is done, and Khanduri is solace for a party hoping to put up a serious fight.

BJP’s campaign has obliterated Nishank. The man himself is stuck in his constituency, a new one that will keep him occupied. After over two decades in politics, Khanduri has yet to learn to engage the masses in politicians’ language. This is a big advantage. His angst-ridden speeches strike a chord. He has played outsider, mocked politicians and got applause. His politician colleagues don’t seem to mind, with the CM receiving maximum campaign requests from candidates.

Conversation with Khanduri during a chopper ride from Chamba to Gopeshwar is either drowned in the noise of the machine or cut short by monosyllables. It is only the corruption issue that draws Khanduri out. He is confident that the version of Lokayukta bill passed few months ago could be a game-changer. Inclement weather with snow yet to melt in vast stretches is a worry for all parties.

The bid to delete Nihank’s tenure from popular memory does not wash with everyone. In the small crowd at Chamba, a few young men, two of them firsttime voters, are not impressed by the exorcising of Nishank. “BJP says Khanduri is majboori of Uttarakhand, we want to know what was the party’s majboori in removing him earlier. Also if Nishank was removed for corruption why has the party given him the ticket?” says Rajeev Pundir, the most vocal of the youth. Rajeev has picked his lines from the Congress slogan, but he is amplifying what others feel many mountains away in Gopeshwar.

But there is no denying the appreciation for Khanduri. Even cynics in the marketplace pity him for trying to clean the mess left behind by Nishank.

Voter turnout is not predicted beyond 35%to 40%. Khanduri’s strategy mixes past and present. He invokes the pride of Uttarakhandis taking them back to the struggle for a separate state and the murderous firing on protesters in Muzaffarnagar. “How can a party that was against formation of Uttarakhand come to power,” he asks voters, urging them not to vote for Congress.