Raipur, January 31

It is nearly nine years since eunuch Rajni Rawat made her political debut with Doon mayoral election and lost narrowly but not without leaving a mark.

She is fighting as an Independent candidate from Raipur and Dharmapur constituencies. Rawat, who was appointed as the vice-chairperson of the State Commission for Women in 2015, says the Congress betrayed her as the party had promised her a ticket, but backtracked later. She vows to defeat the ruling party as well as the BJP.

If elected to Uttarakhand Assembly, she will work to unite the Independents which will form a third force in the state. The transgender claimed that Chief Minister Harish Rawat had promised her Congress ticket but the decision was changed at the last moment. Earlier, she said, former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna also failed to keep his promise of allotting her party ticket in last Assembly election.

“Harish Rawat had promised me ticket from the Raipur constituency for the current Assembly election but it went to someone else at the last moment. The Congress has always betrayed me. In 2009 Lok Sabha elections, I wanted to fight and would have won from the Tehri constituency but Bahuguna told me to support him and promised me a ticket for Assembly elections in 2012. Bahuguna also tied rakhi but he did not keep the sanctity of the thread and betrayed me,” Rawat said.

When asked if she approached the BJP for the ticket, Rawat said, “There were no talks regarding ticket with the BJP.” She also made it clear that she would not join any of the two parties if she wins. The transgender is confident about her propects.

“Shabnam Mausi has come from Madhya Pradesh (to campaign for me). She has won several times as Independent and served the people. Neither the BJP nor the Congress was able to take that seat. I will also serve the people by remaining Independent,” she said. Shabnam was the country’s first transgender MLA.

Rawat said Independent candidates have made up their mind that they would not join any national party but would form their own outfit.

“The BJP and the Congress are hand in glove. They are forming government alternatively. They are making a fool of the people of Uttarakhand. All Independent candidates, who are in the fray, have made up their mind that they will form their own party to serve the people,” she said.

She said while the BJP and the Congress candidates are known by their parties, she had a special bond with the voters as they know her by her name.

“Uttarakhand people are thinking that I am a ‘fakir’ (hermit) and one who blesses the people. People are saying that it is their good luck that such a fakir will give them blessing,” she said.

Rawat says her agenda had been regularisation of the slums. “Now work is being done in that direction with full efforts. Now my focus is to provide employment to the youth. The parents work day and night, face a lot of hardship to impart education to their children and they must get jobs to uplift the family,” she said.Rawat also claimed that she was approached by a Congress minister in Himachal Pradesh government with an offer of Rajya Sabha seat provided she withdraws from the electoral fray.

According to census, India has 4.9 lakh transgenders but activists peg the number six to seven times higher than the official figures.—PTI