BJP President Nitin Gadkari has declared publicly that he will remain in the hot seat if the party comes back to power and the Congress which is committed to regain power after five years in the wilderness is not sitting idle but is affected by factions besides lacking a charismatic leader who enjoys wide support across the Himalayan state.

Meanwhile, some startling facts about the increase in the assets of many legislators has come to light in the one of the most underdeveloped states in the country. The average assets of legislators in Uttarakhand have jumped by `1.79 crore during the past five years.

A BJP MLA, whose total assets were 78 lakh INR in 2007, have gone up to 7.04 crore INR with a whopping spike of 803 % according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The MLA is followed by a Congress legislator whose assets have grown to `4.34 crore during the same period. A BSP MLA is in third place with an average asset growth of `2.04 crore, the NGO said. All the three MLAs are now seeking re-election from different constituencies. They are among the 788 candidates in the fray for the 70 seats in the state Assembly.

One state minister’s total assets were estimated at 2.38 lakh INR in 2007. In the last five years, his assets jumped by 2968 % reaching 70 lakh INR, the sharpest rise among the MLAs during the period. Twenty-five BJP MLAs have become billionaires during the last five years with average assets of `1.31 crore which is an increase of 177 %. Legislators from another party possesses average assets of 2.22 crore each.

In this scenario, BC Khanduri is vying to capture the seat of power in the state again. Although Khanduri is known as ‘Mr Clean’, it remains to be seen whether his clean image would be enough to make the lotus bloom again in Dehradun.