Friday, 04 March 2022 | Gajendra Singh Negi | Dehradun
Saffron Action
With the crucial day of March 10, when the mandate of the people of Uttarakhand would be delivered, drawing closer, a perceptible increase in the activity within the ruling BJP from Dehradun to Delhi has caught everyone’s attention. The central leadership of the saffron party is said to be gearing itself to deal with all possible eventualities after March 10. The complaints of the many candidates that the party insiders were involved in attempts to sabotage their chances have also made the leadership of the party and its different camps alert. On intelligence and other reports that a hung assembly in the state is a distinct possibility the camps headed by former chief ministers Trivendra Singh Rawat and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank have sprung into action. The followers of these two former CMs are fancying the chances of their leaders in case the BJP falls short of majority. The reports that CM Dhami is on a sticky wicket in Khatima has also emboldened his detractors within the party. Dhami camp too is keeping a close eye on the things with CM himself going on a spree of meetings with party leaders in Delhi and in Uttarakhand.
Long wait
The protracted wait for the results after the end of voting on February 14 is making things difficult for the candidates and their supporters. The decision of the Election Commission (EC) to keep Uttarakhand ahead in the voting in the long schedule of elections in the five states spanning seven phases has made the candidates here to wait for almost a month for the results. In such a situation the serious contestants are finding it difficult to hold their wit and nerve intact till the D- Day. After some physical rest some candidates visited shrines to soothe their nerves and to seek the blessing of almighty for the victory while a few who developed hypertension are trying to follow the diet and exercise plan prescribed by their physician. While the table top calculation on voting percentage and their permutation and combinations are making the politicians edgy the self professed political analysts who always crop up during the election time are having a field day in the debates that are continuing in the TV channels, portals, tea shops, offices and other places. In these debates all possibilities have been discussed and prophecies have been made about the winning candidates of every constituency umpteen number of times.
Picture trouble
The pictures on the bag containing the Ayurveda medicines and immunity boosters are preventing the authorities at Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) from distributing them. During the second wave of the pandemic of Covid-19, the AYUSH department prepared kits containing Ayurveda formulations which boost the immunity on the orders of the state administration. The plan of the department was to popularise Ayurveda and give a fillip to the immunity of the Covid warriors and other users. These bags contained the pictures of then chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat and Minister Harak Singh Rawat and by the time the officials started distributing them, the central leadership of BJP removed Tirath from the helm. In the changed circumstances the politically sensitive Babus of MCD thought it prudent to dump these kits in store instead of distributing them.
