Uttarakhand: Congress suffered big setbacks in the 24 Lok Sabha elections, many big leaders left the party, see the list
Lok Sabha elections 204 were not easy for Congress. In between the Lok Sabha elections, Congress’ own people kept giving it shocks. The situation was such that Congress got big shocks even before the voting of Lok Sabha elections. Congress veterans kept leaving the party and joining BJP. Talking about the leaders who left Congress, about 15 to 20 veteran leaders left Congress in this Lok Sabha election. This does not include the count of workers and supporters.
Bad news came from Delhi for Uttarakhand Congress on March 17. This Badrinath MLA Rajendra Bhandari joined BJP in Delhi. Rajendra Bhandari took membership of the party in Delhi in the presence of Piyush Goyal, CM Dhami, Anil Baluni and Dushyant Kumar Gautam. Anil Baluni, BJP candidate from Pauri Lok Sabha seat, welcomed Rajendra Bhandari on joining the party.
Before that, on March 16, Congress was shocked by Harak Singh Rawat’s daughter-in-law Anukriti Gusain. Anukriti Gusain also resigned from Congress membership. Let us tell you that Anukriti Gusain contested the 2022 assembly elections on a Congress ticket. She contested against BJP candidate Mahant Dilip from Lansdowne. In which she had to face defeat. Anukriti Gusain has given the letter related to her resignation to the state president of Congress, Karan Mahara. However, no specific reason has been given as to why she resigned. Writing to the state president, Anukriti Gusain says in the letter that she is resigning from the primary membership of the Congress due to personal reasons.
Before Anukriti Gusain, two big leaders from Uttarkashi also resigned from the Congress. Former MLA from Gangotri, Vijaypal Sajwan resigned from the primary membership of Congress on March 15. Vijaypal Sajwan was one of the hardworking leaders of Congress. Along with Vijaypal Sajwan, Malchand, who was a two-time MLA from Purola, also gave a shock to the Congress in the election season. Malchand also resigned from the Congress on March 15 and returned home to the BJP. Both these leaders joined BJP on March 16.
On March 9, Uttarakhand Congress state general secretary Laxmi Rana also said goodbye to the party. Laxmi Rana was associated with the Congress for a long time. She has also held many important positions. She wrote a letter to the Uttarakhand Congress state president and announced her decision to leave the party. Laxmi Rana has taken this step due to lack of support from the party during the action of the Enforcement Directorate. Laxmi Rana is considered close to Harak Singh Rawat.
Earlier on March 8, Congress had suffered a major setback. On March 8, Congress veteran Manish Khanduri, who contested the 2019 Pauri Lok Sabha election, resigned from the Congress. After resigning from all Congress posts on March 8, Manish Khanduri has joined the BJP within 24 hours. Manish Khanduri took the party membership in the presence of Uttarakhand BJP in-charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Uttarakhand BJP President Mahendra Bhatt, Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Bansal at the Dehradun Metropolitan BJP office.
The process of split in the Congress has been going on for the last few months. Former Congress MLA Shailendra Rawat resigned from the party. Shailendra Rawat joined BJP along with his supporters at Dehradun BJP headquarters. Shailendra Rawat took membership in the presence of BJP state president Mahendra Bhatt and cabinet minister Ganesh Joshi. Along with this, senior Congress leader Ashok Verma also bid goodbye to the party along with his son before the Lok Sabha elections. Ashok Verma has also been the leader of opposition in the Municipal Corporation and the chairman of Uttarakhand State Other Backward Classes Commission.
