In yet another jolt to the Congress party ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, former Uttarakhand party unit vice president SP Singh 'Engineer' on Wednesday joined the BJP along with his supporters in Dehradun. Welcoming them into the party fold, state BJP president Mahendra Bhatt said as in the rest of the country, the people of the state have also made up their minds on making Narendra Modi the Prime Minister for a third time with record votes.
The massive turnout at the Prime Minister's rally in Rudrapur on Tuesday indicates the mood of the people, he said. Bhatt also asked Singh and his supporters to immediately join the election campaign.
After formally joining the party, Singh said everyone is coming to the BJP after being impressed by the works of Prime Minister Modi and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. "How could we sit on the outside when the country and the state are moving rapidly on the path of progress," he said.
Uttarakhand PCC general secretary resigns
Earlier on Tuesday, PCC general secretary and Seva Dal's state chief Rajesh Rastogi resigned from all posts, alleging dynastic politics is "finishing" the party. Rastogi, an advocate and a grassroots leader, also lashed out at former chief minister Harish Rawat for "getting" a ticket for his son from Haridwar Lok Sabha seat.
In his resignation letter sent to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, PCC president Karan Mahara and party in-charge for Uttarakhand Kumari Selja, Rastogi said the "growing dominance of dynastic politics is finishing the party".
Accusing the Congress leaders of Uttarakhand of promoting factionalism and selling tickets, he said if these are not controlled then Congress will not be able to sit even in the opposition. "Congress party may have cancelled my ticket from Laksar assembly constituency in 2022, but I still stood firmly with the party," he said.
He said Harish Rawat got a ticket for his son from Haridwar Lok Sabha constituency while the requests of senior leaders who wanted to contest from there were ignored. "Many other big Congress leaders, upset with Harish Rawat's promotion of dynastic politics in Haridwar seat, may resign from the Congress party within a day or two," he claimed. The state Congress has seen an exodus in recent months with sitting legislator from Badrinath Rajendra Singh Bhandari and many former MLAs leaving the party.
(With PTI inputs)
