HARISH RAWAT, DR HARAK SINGH STRONG Congress Contenders FROM HARIDWAR PARLIAMENTARY SEAT WITH UMESH KUMAR A LIKELY CANDIDATE ?

As the national elections of 2024 are nearing, the senior leaders of various political parties have started setting their pawns on the political chess of the state. In Uttarakhand, the septuagenarian, former chief minister of Uttarakhand who is still proactive in politics at the age of 76 seems to be desperate to ensure his Congress ticket and subsequent victory from Haridwar, holy township seat, his old bastion and his daughter already being MLA from Haridwar, rural constituency in 2024 national elections.

The other day energetic and enthusiastic even at the age of 76 , former CM Harish Rawat was in Iqbalpur Sugar Mills precincts, sitting on a day’s protest sit in, in support of the employees of the mills and farmers obviously meaning that he doesn’t want to lose a single opportunity in Haridwar to ensure that he bags the party ticket from Congress at all costs.

What was important about this sit IN ( DHARNA) outside the Iqbalpur Sugar Mill is the fact that all the senior leaders and majority of the MLAs were present with him, to name the few are : Congress state chief Karan Singh Mahara, former Congress chief Ganesh Godiyal, MLA Harish Dhami, Harish Rawat’s MLA daughter, leader of the opposition in the assembly Yashpal Arya etc.

However the bete noire of Harish Rawat, Pritam Singh MLA and former leader of opposition and his group leaders and workers were conspicuous by their absence, unambiguously revealing that the factionalism within Congress hasn’t subsided but has rather increased as another senior leader of Congress Dr. Harak Singh Rawat too seems to be extremely active in Haridwar, meeting his supporters, attending Congress functions and his personal programmes and events being welcomed everywhere.

Speaking to media Dr. Harak vRawat said that he is not a Pujari who will go in the Himalayas to pray or meditate.

He said he will surely contest from Haridwar if the Congress high Command decides so.

Reliable sources in Congress reveal that Dr. Harak Singh Rawat who was ditched by Harish Rawat earlier by not finalising his party ticket and prior to that compelled him to leave Congress and join BJP is leaving no stone unturned to seek ticket from Haridwar in the election of 2024 and is extremely active in Haridwar these days thus posing direct political threat to his once political mentor Harish Rawat. This opposition to Harish Rawat can be easily gauged from the fact when one goes through his tweet : The fact of the matter is a senior leader of Congress in Uttarakhand having a record of losing maximum elections thinks himself to be a big leader. He has, if really made the record then it is for putting Congress party to extremely poor n destructive position tweeted one Vijay Pal Singh and shared by Dr. Harak Singh Rawat.

This clearly indicate that Dr. Harak Singh Rawat and Pritam Singh, both senior leaders of Congress are not only deadly against Harish Rawat but they are also hell bent upon destroying him politically and vice versa .

Meanwhile, there are reports that an highly influential independent MLA from Khanpur who defeated the wife of former MLA and heavy weight Kunwar Champion Umesh Kumar is also trying hard to seek ticket from Haridwar Parliamentary seat either for himself or for his wife who is in BSP and is tremendously active in this holy constituency holding several programmes, participating in them and financing them, emphasising more on Dalit votes.

Some pockets in Haridwar are considered to be the strongholds of BSP votes and in the past there had also been BSP MLAs from here.

Umesh Kumar independent MLA from Khanpur has recently invited a Bollywood star though in BJP, Kangana Ranaut to Haridwar to offer Ganga Arti with pomp and show and was seen in her company as well as Swamy Chidanand. There were rumours that – may be Umesh Kumar is trying to hobnob with BJP to bag the saffron ticket. Analysts say that he already has the BSP option either to make his wife contest from here or he himself.

Recently he had posted pictures with Bollywood stars like Govinda, Anil Kapoor and his producer elder brother Boney Kapoor flamboyantly showing high Bollywood connections which he may use during his election from Haridwar to call them in public meetings to entice electorates in 2024 reveal sources.

Meanwhile, when the media questioned Harish Rawat about the possibility of Umesh Kumar contesting from Haridwar , Rawat accused him as blackmailer etc not naming him though, to which Umesh Kumar responded strongly through his tweet as below in Hindi ( pointing towards Harish Rawat) which states : The people suffering from mental illness should first improve their standards to fight with me after all till when will they call me brokers, blackmailers, BJP agent etc without any concrete evidence tweeted Umesh Kumar.

Haridwar seems to be a battleground of interest with triangular contest between Congress, BJP and BSP with important heavyweights of all the three parties playing a major role to bag this important seat making the contest interesting and hectic with AAP likely to make it a four cornered contest. The BJP heavy weight n firmer MP HRD ( education) Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank is the sitting MP from her also active simultaneously.