By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 30 Dec: The Congress and BJP have fielded former student leaders for the post of Mayor of the Doon Municipal Corporation this time. While the Congress has given the ticket to former Student’s Union President Virendra Pokhriyal, the BJP has nominated former DAV Students’ Union President Saurabh Thapliyal. Both these candidates filed their nominations at the Nagar Nigam today.
The Congress party has nominated statehood agitationist and a former student leader, Virendra Pokhriyal for the post of Dehradun Mayor. During the statehood agitation Virendra Pokhriyal had also played a significant role, claims the party. Pokhriyal, who has been associated with Congress since his student politics days, made a distinct place for himself in the Youth Congress, Kisan Congress, and Cooperatives. He served as the Students’ Union President of DAV College Dehradun from 1993 to 1996.
Similarly, Saurabh Thapliyal has also emerged from student politics. He has been an active office bearer in ABVP and served as President of DAV (PG) College Students’ Union, just like his rival. Later, he also served as an active leader with the BJP Yuva Morcha. He had replaced Pushkar Singh Dhami as the state president of Bharatiya Yuva Janata Morcha. He is younger than Pokhriyal. His proximity to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and to Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is stated to have played a crucial role in his nomination as the party candidate for the post of Mayor in Dehradun, surpassing many senior and well-known contenders. An interesting fight seems to be on the cards. Dehradun has been a stronghold of the BJP but sources admit that there is some kind of dissatisfaction among the party cadres who have been denied tickets. In addition, they also remind that the party faces the challenge of anti-incumbency in Dehradun.
Interestingly, since the formation of the state and the upgradation of Dehradun Municipal Council to the level of Municipal Corporation, the Mayor’s position has always been held by a Garhwali Brahmin, including Manorama Dobriyal Sharma, Vinod Chamoli, and Sunil Uniyal Gama. This time, too, the contest will be between two Garhwali Brahmins. The Vaishya Community in Dehradun had been seeking a ticket this time, arguing that Dehradun city still has a population of around 55 percent non-Pahadis.
Sources in the party also claimed that, this time, the party had already made up its mind not to repeat the outgoing Mayor Sunil Uniyal Gama as the mayoral candidate. Apart from poor progress on the Smart City project and other development projects, Gama also was involved in some controversies and faced financial allegations which could lead to anti-incumbency, thus forcing the party to consider other names as the candidate.
In addition, the BJP has denied tickets to some continuously winning municipal corporators in Dehradun and has preferred to give tickets to some new candidates. In some cases, tickets were changed even after the announcement leading to further discontent. Raj Kumar Kakkar, an outgoing Corporator from Race Course (North) is a several time Municipal Corporator and his name was announced as a candidate, but under pressure from some workers, he was replaced by a new candidate.
In some wards, some BJP and Congress leaders have also filed nomination as independents. Both the BJP and the Congress are now trying to pacify and convince them to withdraw nominations. It remains to be seen how many rebels in Dehradun have filed nominations and how many of them will withdraw their nomination.
