PNS/ RUDRAPRAYAG
In latest news from Uttarakhand, with a couple of days left for the high-voltage campaigning for the high-stakes Kedarnath bypoll to end, both the candidates-BJP’s Asha Nautiyal and Congress’s Manoj Rawat-are applying all the tricks for vote-canvassing up to the hilt. It is crucial for the saffron party to retain this seat after it has bitten the electoral dust in Ayodhya and Badrinath-known as redoubts of Hindutva. Aware of the importance of this bypoll outcome, the entire Cabinet led by the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has plunged headlong into campaigning. Even the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is known for his special attachment with the Kedarnath shrine, has been keeping a close watch on the bypoll goings-on. However, on the other hand, the Congress candidate has been ploughing almost a lonely furrow.
Observers say that this bypoll may prove to be a cliff hanger with the candidates of both parties enjoying a clean image and good rapport with the electorate.
