Chaos in Uttarakhand BJP with party candidates alleging sabotage

Dehradun: With just three weeks to go for the Assembly poll results, chaos prevails in the Uttarakhand BJP due to contesting party MLAs apprehensive about their defeat coming out in the open with their allegations of sabotage.

Over the last four days, at least three MLAs and a candidate of the ruling BJP have accused their own party colleagues of plotting their defeat, causing considerable uneasiness in the state unit of the saffron party, which has been claiming that it will form the government in Uttarakhand for a second consecutive time. Polling to the 70 Assembly seats of the state was held on February 14 and the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10. Pradeep Gupta, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Laksar who is trying to make it to the Assembly from the seat for the third time, was the first to level such allegations just a day after polling.

In a video clip that went viral on social media platforms, Gupta accused state BJP chief Madan Kaushik and his men of supporting the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate and plotting his defeat from Laksar. Describing Kaushik as a "traitor", he also urged the BJP leadership to expel him from the party. "I want to tell the top leadership that a man like him (Kaushik) does not deserve to be the state unit chief of a nationalist party like the BJP. He is a traitor who should immediately be expelled from the party," Gupta said. Kashipur MLA Harbhajan Singh Cheema, whose son Trilok Singh Cheema was fielded by the BJP from the seat on his request, has also levelled allegations of "sabotage" by party workers against his son. Similar charges have also been levelled by BJP MLA and party candidate from Dehradun's Cantonment seat Savita Kapoor and Champawat MLA Kailash Chandra Gehtori.

Feeling uneasy about the allegations, the saffron party, which had set a target of winning more than 60 seats in Uttarakhand this time, has issued clear instructions to all its leaders to vent their grievances, if any, only on a party forum, instead of going to public platforms to air their views, sources said. When contacted, state BJP vice-president Devendra Bhasin said the party has taken cognisance of the developments and apprised the high-command of the situation.