DEHRADUN: An interesting fight will play out in Chakrata on Monday as five-time MLA and leader of opposition Pritam Singh is pitted against Ramsharan Nautiyal, father of Bollywood singer Jubin Nautiyal and BJP’s nominee from the seat.
While Jubin Nautiyal is trying to use his popularity, especially among the youngsters, to back his father, Singh comes from a well-entrenched political family of the region, which has dominated the politics of Chakrata for the past six decades.
Singh became MLA for the first time from Chakrata in 1993 in undivided Uttar Pradesh. He has won the seat in all four assembly elections -- 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 -- held after Uttarakhand became a separate state in 2000.
His father, Gulab Singh, was also a Congress leader. He was an eight-term member of the UP legislative assembly and served as a minister during the Congress government. In 1985, he was elected unopposed to the UP legislative assembly.
In 2017 assembly polls, BJP's Madhu Chauhan gave a tough fight to Singh, who managed to win by a narrow margin of 1,500 votes.
Riding on his son's popularity, Nautiyal is aiming to convert last time's narrow defeat into victory on March 10. "Jubin is with me throughout the campaign and I am sure we are going to win the seat, as the family which has represented the region for over 60 years hasn't done anything for this place," Nautiyal said.
"The health facilities are in shambles in Chakrata. There is no X-ray machine in the 1,135 sq-km area of the constituency and there are no teachers," he added.
Jubin, who also sang Uttarakhand BJP's official poll song, said, "The party has given a ticket to my father to make Chakrata 'Congress-free' and we are receiving extremely positive response from the people."
Meanwhile, Singh, who had to campaign across the state, said, "Not only Chakrata, Congress will win the entire state. People have made up their minds to throw BJP out of power."
