PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for the Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand, Dinesh Arya filed his nomination papers at Vidhan Sabha secretariat on Tuesday. He was accompanied by chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the national vice president of BJP Tirath Singh Rawat, BJP state president Mahendra Bhatt, cabinet ministers Subodh Uniyal, Dhan Singh Rawat, Ganesh Joshi, Madan Kaushik, Ram Singh Kaida and other senior leaders of the BJP. The election of Arya for the RS is a certainty since no other candidate filed nomination on the day. Considering the numbers in the 70 member Vidhan Sabha, the opposition Congress had decided not to field any candidate for the RS seat. The Vidhan Sabha secretary and the election officer for the RS election Hem Pant said that three persons had purchased nomination papers for RS seat but out of them only the BJP candidate Arya filed his papers on Tuesday. The official announcement of the election of Arya will be made on October 9.
Interacting with the media persons after the nomination of Arya, Dhami said that the BJP has decided to field a simple party worker for the RS from the State. The nomination of Arya also shows that the party takes care of every section of the society. The CM accused the opposition Congress of playing caste politics in the State.
The president of Uttarakhand BJP, Mahendra Bhatt said that the candidature of Arya has again proved that the BJP takes care of committed and dedicated workers and that the party is committed for the upliftment of the weaker sections of the society. Congratulating Arya, he added that the BJP is the only party where the assessment of the dedication and hard work of the party work is continuously done and they are given the respect.
There are three seats in RS from Uttarakhand and out of them the seat of incumbent Member of Parliament Naresh Bansal is falling vacant on November 25. The names of many senior leaders of State BJP were making rounds for the RS vacancy but the party surprised everyone by nominating Arya, a lesser known and low profile leader for the position. The political analysts are of the view that CM Dhami played a key role in selection of Arya, a Dalit for the RS seat. Arya’s selection is being seen as an attempt to negate the Dalit card played by the opposition Congress which raised the issue of purification of Haldwani ground after the public meeting of the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
