Uttarakhand Kranti Dal

Infobox_Indian_Political_Party
party_name = Uttarakhand Kranti Dal
party_| leader =
foundation = 1979
alliance =
ideology = Regionalist/Populist, center-left
publication =
headquarters = 10, Court Road, Dehradun - 248001
website = [http://www.ukd.in/ http://www.ukd.in]

The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal is a regional political party in India. It bills itself as the only regional party of the Uttarakhand Himalayas, in contrast to the national parties that dominate the region's politics.

The UKD was established in 1979 to fight for a separate state composed of the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh. The founding convention was chaired by Dr. D.D. Pant, former vice-chancellor of Kumaun University. This demand was partially achieved with the creation of Uttaranchal state in 2000. However, in the first ever state assembly elections in 2002, it won only 4 out of 70 seats, and were outmaneuvered by the Congress and BJP who were late comers to the separate state movement, but succeeded in capturing its momentum for electoral gain.

As of yet, the UKD has not been able to achieve its ostensible goal in establishing a viable "third force" in Uttarakhand politics due to splits and divisions within its ranks. However, it maintains friendly relations with left parties in the state such as the CPI, CPI(M), and other minor Uttarakhand parties and social movements.

The party has taken on various campaigns in the past geared towards the social and economic uplift of highlanders. The party has however embraced a number of causes of concern to the diversity of peoples living in Uttarakhand, defining the Uttarakhandi identity in broad and inclusive terms. As such, its ideology of civic as opposed to ethnic regionalism can be compared to other centre-left nationalist parties like the Scottish National Party or Plaid Cymru, although its orientation and goals are emphatically non-secessionist.

The party’s face is Field Martial Diwakar Bhatt .who is Cabinet Minister of Uttarakhand in Coalition Government of UKD and BJP.The importance of the Minister can be Denoted by the Portfolios he got 1. Urban Development

2. Food & Civil Supplies

The current president of the party is Dr. Narayan Singh Jantwal other leaders are Field Marshal Diwakar Bhatt, who is presently cabinet Minister for the state of Uttrakhand. Other personalities include the late Indramani Badoni, late Bipin Chandra Tripathi, kashi singh Yeri founder members and long time agitators for the separate state movement.

At the February 2007 state elections, the party won 3 of the 70 seats, but because neither the Congress nor the BJP received a majority, the UKD took an important role in forming the next government by providing needed support to one of the larger parties. [http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=357267&sid=REG]

The party chose to support the BJP, which was much closer to having a majority compared to the Coongress Party, and the BJP formed the next government in March 2007.

External links

* [http://www.ukd.in] web site established by UKD supporters.

* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9079295700345172271&q=bipin+tripathi&total=1&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0] A video of public meeting of ukd

UKD is a good and local party this party is not only a political party it also a emage of local people.

References