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Updated November 17th, 2021 at 12:41 IST

Uttarakhand polls: AAP's CM candidate Col. Ajay Kothiyal to contest from Gangotri seat

In a key development, AAP announced that its CM candidate Colonel (retd.) Ajay Kothiyal will contest the Uttarakhand polls from the Gangotri constituency. 

Reported by: Akhil Oka
Uttarakhand polls, AAP
Image: Twitter | Image:self
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In a key development, AAP announced that its Uttarakhand CM candidate Colonel (retd.) Ajay Kothiyal will contest the Assembly election from the Gangotri seat. Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia recalled Kothiyal's rescue and rehabilitation efforts in the aftermath of the 2013 Kedarnath tragedy. According to Sisodia, AAP's emergence as an alternative will enable people to reject BJP and Congress in the polls. 

Sisodia remarked, "People have seen Kothiyal's work in leading the team during the calamity. People here have seen the amount of work Kothiyal has done for the people of Gangotri and Uttarakhand, especially the Uttarkashi region. Every person respects him. Historically, the people of the Gangotri constituency have desired something good at the time of the election. That's why they sometimes repose faith in BJP, then repose faith in Congress after discovering that they didn't do anything good in the last 5 years and then go back to BJP. Historically, the people were unhappy after choosing BJP and Congress as there was no alternative."   

The former principal of Uttarkashi-based Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Kothiyal runs an organisation that trains the locals to join the Armed Forces. After joining the Arvind Kejriwal-led party on April 19 this year, he was fielded against the then CM Tirath Singh Rawat who was expected to contest the bypoll in Gangotri. However, the by-election did not take place as less than a year was left for the state Assembly polls and Rawat resigned subsequently. Earlier, AAP declared that its ex-state president SS Kaler will fight the 2022 election against CM Pushkar Singh Dhami. 

Uttarakhand polls

In the 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly election, the Harish Rawat-led Congress government lost power after BJP won 57 seats in the 70-member House. Thereafter, Trivendra Singh Rawat served as the Chief Minister of the state until March 9, when he resigned because of a "collection decision" taken by the BJP top brass. His successor and Lok Sabha MP Tirath Singh Rawat's tenure as the CM was also short-lived and was replaced by Pushkar Singh Dhami as the Election Commission was unlikely to conduct a by-election owing to the COVID-19 situation.

AAP has tried to make inroads in the state in the last few months with a mass outreach campaign titled 'Uttarakhand me bhi Kejriwal', increasing online presence besides regular visits by high-profile leaders such as Manish Sisodia. However, non-BJP and non-Congress parties have failed to make any gains in Uttarakhand so far which is evident from the failure of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, SP and BSP. The 2022 Assembly polls will be the first election that AAP is contesting in the state since the 2014 Lok Sabha election where 5 of its candidates lost.

In 2018, AAP's Dehradun mayoral candidate Rajni Rawat stood a distant third behind BJP and Congress. In Uttarakhand, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party has promised 300 units of free electricity, a waiver of old electricity bills, free electricity for farmers and 24x7 electricity. Besides this, Kejriwal has assured a monthly unemployment allowance of Rs.5000, 1 lakh jobs, reservation of 80% jobs for locals and formation of a new Ministry to check unemployment and migration if AAP forms a government in the state.   

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Published November 17th, 2021 at 12:41 IST

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