UKD LEADERS DIDN’T HELPED ITS OWN OFFICIAL CANDIDATES LEADING TO THEIR WORRISOME DEFEAT

GANESH GODIYAL OF Congress SEEKING BLESSINGS FROM UKD STALWART DIWAKAR BHATT

In Uttarakhand, Bharatiya Janata Party has swept the polls for the third consecutive time which unambiguously indicate that the local burning issues like Ankita Bhandari brutal murder case , concrete land act, 150 Mool Praman Patra couldn’t really impact the electorates especially in the case of the once strongest regional force Uttarakhand Kranti Dal that played a very prominent role in initiating the separate state movement finally leading to its achievement after tremendous struggle. After the separate state came into existence in 2002 , it is being ruled by two two national parties viz. Congress and BJP and the very party that played a very vital role in getting the separate Uttarakhand demand finally implemented compelling all the national parties to back it , is a non entity in Uttarakhand not able make any impact on the state electorates, primarily because its leaders couldn’t expand its socio political base from the decentralised to the state level due to their lack of vision, time to time hobnobbing with the BJP and Congress parties while they are in government and sharing power with them at their convenience thus exhibiting that they have no concrete ideology of fixed policy to enable their activists at the ground level to imitate them and spread their ideological n fixed policy related format among others. If one takes a look at other regional parties in various states of the country, they have progressed by leaps and bounds but due to the lack of visionary leaders in Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and their vested interests, the party has squeezed further instead of expanding thus its workers and leaders joining other parties time and again, making it weak gradually.

If we take the case of Pauri Garhwal parliamentary constituency a learned, well read journalist turned social activist and leader who had been active in several social movements of concrete land act, Uttarakhand Mool Praman Patra 1950 and the relentless fighter in Ankita Bhandari case since day one, incessantly fighting to seek justice for her was accorded ticket by Uttarakhand Kranti Dal this time.

Journalist turned activist , politician Ashutosh Negi, who had taught in HNB University 1.5 decade ago is an investigative journalist, practising advocate and a real fighter especially in Ankita Bhandari case having filed petitions in Uttarakhand high Court and an SLP in Supreme Court seeking CBI inquiry.

Ashutosh Negi and his dedicated team campaigned extensively in the entire constituency covering every nook and corner addressing thousands of electorates in all pertinent issues of Ankita Bhandari case, inflation, concrete land act, 150 mool praman Patra, illegal mining, existing massive corruption in Uttarakhand, deteriorating health sector of the Himalayan state etc but he got merely 4567 votes out of several lakh 7 lakh) votes polled. There was tremendous pressure on him to withdraw by Congress party but he refused. What is shocking to note here is that the party’s national office bearers and tall leaders like Diwakar Bhatt, Pushpesh Tripathi , Kashi Singh Airy despite being idle, never campaigned for him but according to reliable sources allegedly helped the Congress Candidate Ganesh Singh Godiyal who met him twice, earlier as we as after the election to share his concern about his ill health.

What is interesting to note here that in 2022 assembly elections the UKD candidate and former minister in Congress government Diwakar Bhatt had secured more than 12000 votes though he had lost by a small margin but the UKD’s parliamentary candidate from Pauri Garhwal Ashutosh Negi got only three hundred votes from Devprayag assembly constituency.

This clearly indicate that the UKD leader Diwakar Bhatt hasn’t worked for his party candidate rather had allegedly supported n worked for Congress reveal reliable sources.

This means that the so called tall UKD leaders like Diwakar Bhatt, Pushpesh Tripathi and Kashi Singh Airy haven’t bothered to stand with their candidate Ashutosh Negi who was earlier arrested on fake and unsubstantiated charges under SCST act a true fighter and in the forefront in Ankita Bhandari case since day one including exposing several scams etc. Sounds irrelevant and uncalled for.

This is the reason why the first and once a credible regional party Uttarakhand Kranti Dal is not gaining momentum in Uttarakhand despite the Rajya coming into separate existence 24 years ago and two national parties BJP and Congress ruling it alternatively with nine CMs changed so far.

Though in Tehri Garhwal Bobby Pawar’s performance was extremely outstanding who secured over 1.67 lakh votes but the UKD can’t claim credit for this achievement as Bobby Pawar had joined UKD at the last moment and whatever vote he got was due to his own credible image with UKD with its leaders contributing in no way, whatsoever.

The central leaders of all the political parties had campaigned for their candidates in various constituencies of Uttarakhand including their regional leaders then how come that the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal leaders didn’t came in support of their official candidates. This non cooperative attitude definitely raises certain questions and demoralises the rank and file of the regional political party. If the top party leaders won’t stand with their candidates then who else will, is a moot question.