E-Paper
6 MLAs offer their seat to Pushkar Dhami. Buzz is he may not take up their offer
Speculations are rife that Pushkar Singh Dhami may contest from Didihat seat in Pithoragarh, his home district.
PITHORAGARH/RUDRAPUR: With Bishan Singh Chuphal, MLA from Didihat and former minister, not featuring in the new Uttarakhand cabinet, speculations are rife that newly sworn-in chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will contest from this seat in Pithoragarh district. Dhami originally hails from Pithoragarh district.
Though six MLAs offered to vacate their seats for Dhami after his defeat from the Khatima assembly seat in the recently concluded assembly elections, political observers said Didihat will be a safe seat for Dhami to contest as he is an original resident of the Hadkhola village near the Didihat town. The chief minister needs to be elected to the assembly within six months.
“Didihat has a strong voter base of BJP cadre which will ensure his victory in a big way. Besides, caste equations and his family roots in the area are fully in favour of Dhami,” said Kedar Joshi, a senior BJP leader.
Amid speculations that he will be nominated for Rajya Sabha, six-time MLA Bishan Singh Chuphal said he will do whatever the party high command wants him to do. “I will do whatever the party tells me to do,” he said.
Kishan Singh Bhandari, a former Zila panchayat chairperson who came second in the last two assembly elections in Didihat, said he will announce his decision on contesting against Dhami only after the chief minister announces his candidature from the seat. “The basic facilities and development in Didihat constituency have gone down in the last 25 years. My concern is with my people and I always take a decision keeping their welfare in mind,” Bhandari said.
Meanwhile, the MLAs who offered to vacate their seats for Dhami reiterated their offer. They included Kailash Gehtori from Champawat, Mohan Mahra from Jageshwar, Dr Mohan Singh Bisht from Lalkua, Pradeep Batra from Roorkee and Umesh Kumar from Khanpur.
“Dhami made a mark as CM in just sixth month tenure. He wants to work for the betterment of the state. I was the first to offer to vacate my seat for him. Whenever he asks me, I will abandon the membership of the assembly,” said Gahtori.
Mohan Singh Bisht, MLA for Lalkuan said, “Yes, I had offered my seat for Dhami and I stand by what I had said. It will be beneficial for the development of Lalkuan if Dhami chooses to contest elections from here.”
“I stand by my offer. We want to see the development in the state and Dhami has the vision for achieving this,” said Suresh Gariya, MLA from Kapkot.
Dhami took oath as the chief minister of Uttarakhand for his second consecutive term in Dehradun on Wednesday. Along with him, eight cabinet ministers were also administered the oath.
