SRINAGAR: After a shock defeat from Ayodhya, the heart of Hindutva politics, in the parliamentary polls a few months back, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi (SMVD) Assembly seat in J&K’s Reasi district has assumed additional significance for the BJP. A multi-cornered contest can unpredictably swing the result.The Vaishno Devi constituency will go to the polls in the second phase of the Assembly polls on September 25.The significance of the seat can be gauged from the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held an election rally and a roadshow in the Katra, which is the base camp for the pilgrims visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine.Seven candidates are in the fray from the seat, but the main contest is between BJP’s Baldev Raj Sharma, Congress’ Bhupinder Singh, former MLA Jugal Kishore and independent candidate Sham Singh.The BJP won the SMVD seat twice in the last two elections in erstwhile J&K state in 2008 and 2014 and also took the lead from the segment in the parliamentary polls.However, the saffron camp is beset with infighting, which surfaced when the party initially gave a mandate for the seat to Rohit Dubey, the district president Reasi. However, a few hours later, the party withdrew his candidature and substituted Dubey with former MLA Baldev Raj Sharma.This led to protests by party workers, who pledged to vote against the official candidate. Adding to this is the resentment against the party among Katra’s Baridari community, the erstwhile caretakers of the Vaishno Devi shrine.
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