Sunday, 30 May 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
As Uttarakhand comes out of a deadly surge of corona, both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress are trying to tackle the situation in their own way, knowing too well that suffering faced by the masses will play a key role in deciding the outcome of the next year’s Assembly polls.
Both the national parties are trying to reach out to people and their cadre and provide them succour.
The Aam Aadmi Party has also undertaken some efforts to help the Covid-affected people and gain a foothold in the State. But the BJP is way ahead in this exercise.
According to observers, the BJP with 57 MLAs in the 70-member Assembly remains in the driver seats in Uttarakhand due to its relatively better organisational structure and coordination between the State and Central Governments.
The party has tried to offset the anti-incumbency issues arising out of allegations of corruptions and lack of governance, by removing Trivendra Singh Rawat as Chief Minister just a few days before completion of his four years in office.
His successor Tirath Singh Rawat wasted no time in reversing some of the controversial decisions of the previous Government and accelerated Covid-19 relief exercise.
The Government and the BJP are now focusing majorly on providing assistance and relief to Covid affected persons and their families especially in the rural mountainous regions of the State.
On the other hand, the Congress continued to be plagued by factionalism even though the Pradesh Congress Committee president Pritam Singh asserted that the party will be united in the 2022 Assembly elections.
Though some Congress leaders are doing their bit to help the Covid-affected people, organisationally the Congress is yet to undertake relief works on the scale executed by the BJP.
The AAP is hoping to achieve results in the Assembly elections with the recent induction of colonel (retd) Ajay Kothiyal, the former principal of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering also known for his role in the Kedarnath reconstruction project and social works.
Political observers point out that though these efforts will also have an effect on the Assembly elections, it is still too early to evaluate the electoral chances of the parties. The developments in the coming months will make the picture clearer.
