More at stake for BJP than Cong on Narendra Nagar assembly seat
MUSSOORIE: The BJP has more at stake than the Congress from the Narendra Nagar assembly constituency in Tehri Garhwal district as agriculture minister Subodh Uniyal is pitted against Om Gopal Rawat, the turncoat candidate who after being denied the ticket by the BJP switched over to the Congress.
In the 2017 assembly election, Uniyal from the BJP was elected MLA from the seat by defeating Rawat, who contested as an Independent candidate by a margin of 4,972 votes.
In 2012, Uniyal had contested from the same seat on a Congress ticket and defeated Rawat who contested on a BJP ticket by a margin of 401 votes.
Uniyal is banking on the works done by him as the agriculture minister in the BJP government thus having a trickledown effect and benefiting not only the farmers but the voters in his constituency too.
He claimed that as agriculture minister more than 100 reforms were done in the interest of farmers of the state were undertaken and succeeded in getting more budget compared to the past seventeen years.
Uniyal, confident of his victory again from the Narendra Nagar seat, said, “I was able to increase the certified organic farming from 2.3 per cent to 50 per cent in the state that also benefited my constituency.”
Utilization of 100 per cent projects under Namami Ganga, first agriculture market of the district at Narendra Nagar, the centre of excellence for organic farming, centre for excellence for Kiwi fruit production, setting up a horticulturist training centre at Gaja are some of the important works done for the constituency, he said.
The all-weather road and the Karnprayag railway project are two ongoing projects in my constituency, he added.
Rawat refuted the claims of Uniyal.
He said, “If Subodh Uniyal calls opening of nine liquor shops in the constituency as development, then people do not require such development,”
The level of sycophancy has been high during his tenure as the minister and apart from the few contractors that too from Ghaziabad and Delhi, no one else has benefitted in the past five years, he added.
Political analyst Vinod Chamoli said, “Subodh Uniyal is a strong candidate and trying to bank on the works done by him as agriculture minister but the voters are angry at the not doing enough for controlling the rise in the number of stray cows which have become a nuisance for the villagers in the constituency.”
Rawat, who lost in 2012, has switched over to the Congress to take advantage of the Congress cadre votes this time around, said Chamoli.