Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's public address at Rudrapur on Friday has boosted the confidence of the nine Congress candidates of Udham Singh Nagar.
Also his visit here has benefited sitting Rudrapur MLA Tilakraj Behed a great deal.
Udham Singh Nagar Congressmen looked upbeat amid the cheering crowd at the Gandhi Park here. People continued to fill the park till the end of the meeting even as they cheered the announcements made by Manmohan.
He later met the nine party candidates of Udham Singh Nagar.
Local Congress leaders were glad about the prime minister's visit as they felt that it would help in raising the chances of their candidates as Sikh voters had a sizable presence in Uttarakhand.
They were also confident of winning over a substantial number of Bengali voters in Rudrapur as Nainital Lok Sabha MP KC Singh Baba and sitting Rudrapur MLA Tilakraj Behed tried to woo them by announcing that the Centre was doing its bit to give them scheduled caste status.
Earlier Manmohan tried to relate himself with Uttarakhand and said he had fond memories of his childhood education and upbringing in Haldwani.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier Manmohan tried to relate himself with Uttarakhand and said he had fond memories of his childhood education and upbringing in Haldwani.
{{/usCountry}}Although the prime minister's visit was good for the Congress' electoral prospects here it was a misery for locals as traffic diversions forced them to cover longer than normal distances while commuting. In the area between PAC Lines and Gandhi Park even pedestrians were shoed away from the road by policemen.