In Mussoorie, Congress candidate’s cousin sister campaigns against her
The Congress candidate from Mussoorie, Godavari Thapli, is facing tough resistance from her cousin sister, Kalpana Gurang, who is campaigning for the BJP candidate Ganesh Joshi.
MUSSOORIE: In Mussoorie assembly constituency, the Congress candidate’s own cousin sister is campaigning against her, making it an interesting contest in the Himalayan hill station.
The Congress candidate from the Mussoorie assembly seat, Godavari Thapli, is facing tough resistance from her cousin sister Kalpana Gurang, who is campaigning for Ganesh Joshi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate.
“Congress Party has used women as merely a vote bank and has done nothing for them and this is the reason why I left Congress and my sister ten days ago after serving the party for several years,” said Kalpana Gurang, who has now joined the BJP.
When asked why she joined the BJP, Kalpana Gurung said, “I was attracted towards the policy and ideology of Bhartiya Janata Party, PM Narendra Modi and the works done by current BJP MLA from Mussoorie Ganesh Joshi”.
She said that there is a huge difference between the Congress and the BJP. “I have noticed that BJP does what it says, and Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi has emerged as a mass leader who has worked without any discrimination among the party workers be it male or female in the party, whereas in Congress, women have no say and are used merely as a showpiece,” she said.
She said Ganesh Joshi is a mass leader who has helped thousands of people without asking whether they belong to the Congress, the BJP or to another party. “And this influenced me and I gravitated towards BJP,” she said.
She also emphasised that there was no pressure from her family on her joining the BJP.
Speaking on the issue, the Congress candidate from Mussoorie, Godavari Thapli, said the BJP is losing the seat from Mussoorie hence it is trying all such tactics to distract the voters from the issues of price rise, LPG gas cylinder price hike, unemployment and so on. “But it will fail in its attempt with Congress winning the elections here. They can bring anybody to campaign against me, but people in my area will give them a befitting reply,” she said.
The elections to 70-member Assembly in Uttarakhand will be held on February 14. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
