Former Uttarakhand chief minister and the ruling BJP’s sitting parliamentarian from Haridwar, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, in an interview with HT, rubbished all allegations levelled by his rival, the Congress’ Ambrish Kumar, and claimed he broke all records by ensuring all-round development in the Lok Sabha constituency he represents. Nishank has been fielded again by the BJP from this seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Excerpts:
I am getting full support from my constituents. Also, as far as the people’s support to our party is concerned, Haridwar is most favourable Lok Sabha seat in the entire state.
Is he (Kumar) contesting a Lok Sabha election, or a panchayat poll, where it is a must for a contestant to belong to a particular panchayat area he chooses to contest from? Does Rahul Gandhi belong to Amethi, the Lok Sabha seat he represents? Does former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi hail from Rai Bareilly?
People of my constituency are solidly behind me. The kind of development work that was done in Haridwar over the last five years had never been carried out in past 55 years.
Why is he and his party leaders campaigning so vigorously if I am not in the reckoning? Let me tell you that it is I who ensured the merger of Haridwar in the hill state when it was being bifurcated from UP. Kumar strongly protested against it.
Let him (Kumar) withdraw his allegations immediately. Or else, that would amount to contempt of court and he will be sued. There has been no allegation of any kind against me ever.
{{/usCountry}}Let him (Kumar) withdraw his allegations immediately. Or else, that would amount to contempt of court and he will be sued. There has been no allegation of any kind against me ever.
{{/usCountry}}Ask the people. Over 10 lakh people in Haridwar personally benefited from various schemes during my first five-year term as a parliamentarian; more than one lakh people got free cooking gas connections.