It’s between old rivals Ajay Bhatt, Karan Mahara

BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, January 24

Uttarakhand BJP president Ajay Bhat represents the Ranikhet Assembly constituenecy, one of the backward segments in Almora district. It witnessed a narrow fight in the last elections as Ajay Bhatt could win by meager 137 votes. Ajay Bhat polled 13,925 votes (35.90 per cent) while Congress candidate Karan Mahara secured 13,788 votes (35.54 per cent ) and Puran Singh of the BSP came third with 9,262 votes. “Puran Singh has died. He had a good clout over Dalits and backward castes as he had been fighting for their rights for several years. In his absence the BSP votes will get split in Ranikhet this elections,” says Shekher Dewivedi, a former journalist.

The BSP has fielded Kripal Ram from the constituency, making it a triangular contest in Ranikhet. “I have worked to solve the drinking water problem of villages in the constituency and got constructed five pumping schemes, besides three tube wells dug in Ranikhet town to ensure 7 lakh litre of drinking water supply per day,” claims Bhatt. He says his dream Chamarkhan-Ramganga drinking water project is almost complete and only pipelines are to be laid. “Besides addressing the drinking water problem of the villages, I have also got sanctioned several highways, bridges and roads for the villages,” he adds.

Bhatt says his only failure if that he could not get the district status for Ranikhet, as Chief Minister Harish Rawat ditched him. “The Chief Minister cheated people on the long standing demand of establishing an urban body in place of the Ranikhet Cantonment. He first announced creation of the Ranikhet–Chilianaula Nagar Palika but later scrapped it,” he adds.

Bhatt says if he gets another tenure, he will get Ranikhet declared as a district. He will work to revive village industries and tourism in Ranikhet to increase income of villagers and check migration. “My second priority will be to promote cottage industry and villages tourism so that foreign tourists could live in traditional houses in hilly areas,” he adds.

Ranikhet residents say Bhatt has completed about 60 per cent of the announced works in villages. Besides, the drinking water problem in Pali Pachau villages, he could not address the issue of the wild animal menace.

Political pandits say the constituency is beset with problems of water shortage, lack of roads and health services in villages.

Ranikhet town residents complain about the dictatorial attitude of Army officers on the cantonment board and are struggling for the Nagar Palika Parishad status. Traditional rivals Karan Mahara, a close relative of Harish Rawat, and Ajay Bhatt are again facing each other.

Karan Mahara alleges that during Ajay Bhatt’s tenure as MLA several regional offices have shifted from Ranikhet. The regional offices of the Electricity Department and Khadi Gramodhoyog and Ayurvedic Training College were shifted from Ranikhet but the legislator could not do anything.

“The BJP government between 2007 and 2012 could not open even one technical institute in Ranikhet,” complains Mahra. He says if he gets elected this time he will get technical institutes established in Ranikhet and solve the drinking water problem of villages. “Even when Ajay Bhatt was MLA from Ranikhet, I got a polytechnic college opened in Ranikhet and introducing MSc and MCom classes in the local postgraduate college,” claims Mahara.