Uttarakhand BJP president Ajay Bhatt insists that his party is poised for a comfortable victory in the assembly elections, and would win at least 50 of 70 seats. Excerpts from an exclusive interview:
How confident are you of a BJP victory in Uttarakhand?
We are sure of winning more than 50 seats. The reason is that the Harish Rawat government has been completely discredited. The chief minister's office had turned into a den of middlemen. Rawat promoted corruption and protected the mining and liquor mafia.
Ten senior leaders leaving the party is a sign that there is no trust in his leadership. A tall leader like N.D. Tiwari has also left the Congress.
With the BJP fielding former Congress leaders, there has been rebellion within the party.
These leaders are now members of the BJP family, and have to be treated as such. I have made it very clear that tickets are decided by the central leadership, and any opposition to it means going against the word of the BJP president. No such act of indiscipline will be tolerated.
The BJP has five former chief ministers, yet no one has been projected.
Yes, the BJP has five former chief ministers. But, the decision to project a face is taken on the basis of the prevailing political situation. We had a chief minister candidate in Assam and Delhi. But, we did not project anyone in Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
How will you counter the Congress's projection of Harish Rawat as chief minister?
Projecting Harish Rawat as chief minister shows the helplessness of the Congress. It will backfire as his reputation has been spoilt by the huge corruption his tenure has seen.
The BJP has Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its election mascot.
Modiji is a mascot for the whole country, not just for us. It is because of the effect that Modiji has had on the entire country that a veteran like N.D. Tiwari has left the Congress and joined the BJP.
Do you see yourself as a probable for the chief minister's post?
I have never sought any post for myself. Be it contesting the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in 1998 or being made leader of opposition in Uttarakhand or even the state president, I have not sought any of these. I did not want to contest the assembly elections as I wanted to focus on the organisation. But the central leadership insisted that I contest.
