Bypoll result much-needed relief to BJP

Dehradun: The strategy to field Chandra Pant and cash in on the sympathy wave saved the BJP in the Pithoragarh

bypoll

where narrow victory margins have always haunted it in the past too.

The victory in the byelection has given the much-needed relief to the saffron camp since, after the untimely death of Prakash Pant, the BJP state leadership was at their wit’s end to find the right candidate for the Pithoragarh.

The situation had become more complex because initially Pant’s wife had expressed little interest to join politics.

Delighted with the victory, BJP state president Ajay Bhatt said, “The byelection result has proved that the people of Uttarakhand have rejected the Congress. Chandra Pant would serve the people with the same intention and sincerity that was the hallmark of Pant, who was a grassroots politician.”

On Thursday, as soon as the details of the margins started trickling out in Pithoragarh, party leaders sitting at the BJP office in Dehradun started getting worried about the outcome.

Senior BJP leaders claim that the party had not got positive feedback in the internal surveys and this had prompted them to rope in Chandra Pant. “It was very clear to us that if she contested, then we would pull it off but if anyone else from the family contested, then things might have been a little difficult,” said Shadab Shams, BJP media coordinator.