E-Paper
Congress MLA joins BJP ahead of assembly polls, says impressed by PM Modi
Congress MLA from Purola constituency of Uttarkashi district, Rajkumar, joined the ruling BJP on Sunday.
With months left for the next state assembly elections to be held in Uttarakhand next year, Opposition Congress MLA from Purola constituency of Uttarkashi district, Rajkumar, joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its headquarters in Delhi on Sunday.
His joining has come days after independent MLA from Dhanaulti in Tehri Garhwal district Pritam Singh Panwar joined BJP a few days ago in Delhi.
Rajkumar, who was earlier an MLA with the BJP from 2007-2012 from Sahaspur constituency of Dehradun district, fought independently from Purola in the 2012 elections and lost. He then joined Congress in the 2017 elections and won from Purola.
On Sunday, he joined the BJP in presence of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, party state president Madan Kaushik and party Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni. He was welcomed in the party folds by Pradhan by handing him the party membership token before the media.
Pradhan while welcoming him to the party, called him a mass leader in Uttarakhand.
“A mass leader in the Himalayan state, Rajkumar has support in Dehradun as well as the rural areas of hills. His joining will ensure the party’s win in the upcoming state assembly elections in Uttarakhand,” said Pradhan.
Terming him an influential leader in the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, party state head Kaushik said, “Rajkumar is a senior leader who had served the people of Uttarakhand for two terms as an MLA including the present one.”
“He has significant influence in the SC community and has always been active on issues related to them. He is so concerned for the community that, despite being an MLA in the Opposition, he has supported our government on steps taken for the welfare of the community in the House. The party will definitely benefit with his inclusion,” said Kaushik, adding “We hope he will strengthen the party by working within the framework.”
CM Dhami, while hailing Rajkumar’s contribution as a leader said, “He has always raised the voice of the oppressed and poor. He has been working for the poor across the state.”
“A few days ago, Panwar joined the BJP and now Rajkumar. It is due to the charismatic leadership of PM Narendra Modi. Rajkumar’s inclusion will help BJP work for the ignored section of the society in a much better way,” said Dhami.
Rajkumar, while addressing the media during the joining event, said he joined the BJP because he was “greatly influenced by PM Modi.”
“I was influenced by the kind of development works are being done by the BJP government under PM Modi, especially the Char Dham all-weather road which has changed the face of Uttarakhand. Also, it is also providing free ration to crores of poor across the country amid the Covid-19 pandemic which left a great impact on me about the public welfare works being done by BJP in the country. These all made me join the party,” he said.
On the occasion, he also attacked his previous party Congress for “not doing enough for the SC community.”
“The major difference between the BJP and the Congress which I can see is the fact that the former has worked towards making SC community self-dependent but Congress always made them disabled by making them rely on subsidies,” said Rajkumar.
Earlier, a BJP insider said that Rajkumar was supposed to join the party in a formal event on Saturday but couldn’t after he had put a condition before the party leadership.
“He was demanding a ticket from Rajpur road constituency of Dehradun from where Khajan Das is party MLA. The party was a little hesitant in accepting it because it feared angering the party workers in the area by doing so. But it seems the demand has been met,” said the leader on condition of anonymity.
“It is good that weaker links are leaving party before polls,” Congress state president Ganesh Godiyal said.
Reacting to the development, Godiyal claimed that it “won’t affect” the party as it is going to win the 2022 polls.
“It is in fact a good thing that the weaker links are leaving the party before the polls. Rajkumar was aware of his weakening political status in his constituency and was wary of it. Hence, in order to save himself, he switched sides before the polls,” said Godiyal.
He also said that he tried contacting Rajkumar before his joining but failed.
“I had earlier got to know about his probable joining from the media reports after which I tried to contact him to know the reason but failed. He must have sensed his situation for some reasons leading to his defection,” said Godiyal.
The Opposition state head also categorically denied that any other party MLA is also in talks with BJP to switch sides.
“I can say with full confidence that apart from Rajkumar, no other MLA is in touch with the BJP. They are all working for the party to win the 2022 polls along with the hard work of our party workers on the ground,” said Godiyal.
Meanwhile, amid the fresh political development, a senior Congress leader has claimed that two BJP sitting MLAs, one each from Haridwar and Dehradun, are in touch with Congress and are willing to switch sides.
“The one from Haridwar is ready to join the party but on a guaranteed ticket for the 2022 elections while the other one from Dehradun is the one who had defected to the BJP in 2017 and is currently disgruntled with the BJP leadership,” said the leader.
He added, “Congress right now is not in a hurry to accept them in the party fearing political repercussions in the organisation. It is possible that both are sensing that they won’t be given tickets by the BJP in 2022 and are hence trying to switch sides. And if that happens, then BJP will be in a position to say that Congress accepted those leaders who were rejected by them. It will be then a political self-goal for us ahead of the elections. We have enough strong candidates of our own in both those constituencies.”
When enquired, party state head Godiyal didn’t deny the reports and said, “I have already said that some BJP MLAs are in touch with us to join the party but we will go head after proper analysis and c
