BJP's Pauri Lok Sabha seat candidate Tirath Singh Rawat Tuesday claimed he was the true heir to the political legacy of veteran saffron party leader B C Khanduri, whose son is contesting the polls from the constituency on a Congress ticket.
He also said even though he was pitted against Kahnduri's son Manish, he had the veteran leader's blessings and was confident of victory from the seat.
"I am confident of a win as Khanduriji's blessings are with me and there is tremendous support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. People everywhere will cast their votes to strengthen his hands," Rawat told PTI in an interview.
"The Congress on the other hand is sidelined.It is battling for survival as even regional parties do not want the grand old party in their alliance. It is not in a position to throw a challenge," he said.
BC Khanduri, a retired major general, wields considerable clout in Pauri and is said to be a deciding factor on the seat as whoever he goes with gets an edge over the opponent.
When asked whether being the son of Khanduri gives Manish an edge, Rawat said, "On the contrary it is going to prove counter-productive as he (Manish) is being seen as someone representing an ideology his father had opposed all these years."
"My association with Khanduriji goes back several decades. He is my political mentor and I have his blessings. He even played a role in me getting a ticket from the seat.I represent his ideology and I will get the advantage of his reputation and popularity," he said, adding that he was the "true heir" to Khanduri's political legacy.
Pauri (Garhwal) was represented by BC Khanduri, a former chief minister, in the 16th Lok Sabha.
However, this time he expressed his unwillingness to contest, prompting the BJP to field his political protege Tirath Singh Rawat from the seat where Khanduri's son is trying his luck as a Congress nominee.
With both son and disciple digging into Khanduri's loyal support base to outdo each other and the BJP veteran maintaining an impenetrable silence, all attention is riveted on the seat to see which of the two will finally reap the advantage of his legacy.
On whether BC Khanduri's silence on who he would support in the polls will leave voters confused, Rawat said there is no confusion as Khanduri has openly said he is a dedicated soldier of the BJP.
Rawat also spoke of Manish's elder sister and BJP MLA from Yamkeshwar Ritu Khanduri campaigning aggressively for him in his constituency.
He said the biggest factor in these elections is Modi and everyone wants to see him as prime minister again.
"There was a wave in support of Modi even in 2014. But it was more in the form of an undercurrent. This time it is palpable," he said.
"Modi has taken development to every section. Be it the annual income support scheme for small and marginal farmers, toilets for everyone, rural electrification, Ujjwala or Ayushman Bharat their benefits are reaching people directly and they have made up their mind about seeing Modi again as prime minister," Rawat said.
These elections are for development and national pride. The surgical strike after Uri and the air strike against terror targets in Pakistan after Pulwama have taken Modi's popularity to the next level in Pauri, he said, adding that several people from the constituency are in the armed forces.
"People have faith in Modi's leadership and they will vote for BJP to strengthen him," he said.
There is a large presence of serving and ex-army personnel in the constituency.
Veterans such as L K Advani and B C Khanduri were dropped from their Lok Sabha seats by the BJP this time and it seemed that the party's decision had come as it wanted to ease out several of its old guards from electoral politics after keeping them out of government by introducing an age bar of 75 years.
In anticipation of the party leadership's move, senior leaders like Kalraj Mishra and Bhagat Singh Koshyari had announced their unwillingness to contest the coming Lok Sabha polls.
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