BJP deploys Nishank to counter Harish Rawat effect in Haridwar

HARIDWAR: The BJP has pitched in former union minister and former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to counter the whirlwind election campaign of Congress leader Harish Rawat in Haridwar.

Rawat’s back-to-back dozenodd meetings, door-to-door campaign in Haridwar district in past the few days has upped the

Congress candidates’ momentum. To counter this, BJP now deployed Nishank, who is also sitting Haridwar parliamentarian. According to BJP district unit office bearers, Nishank’s election meetings and door-todoor campaign has been listed in all the 11 assembly segments of the district.

“Every candidate wants to have Nishank’s meetings and gathering in his segment owing to his political stature, mass popularity and oratorial skills. He is one of the senior most party leaders from Uttarakhand and he has already started campaigning intensely in his constituency,” said BJP district president Jaypal Singh Chauhan.

At Tehri Dobh Nagar, Nishank took a dig at Rawat, saying when he couldn’t even manage to win one of the two seats, he contested in 2017 assembly segment how can he manage others win in capacity of Congress party election campaign committee chairperson.

Political analyst Sunil Dutt Pandey said the BJP has strategically deployed Nishank to counter Rawat. “Rawat and Nishank are two major political personalities in the state. Both have mass appeal, can draw crowd in plain and hill segments ,know party leaders in all the districts and command respect among party workers,” said Pandey.