The future of big leaders of the opposition including Congress who joined BJP before the Lok Sabha elections will also be decided after the counting of votes on Tuesday. Apart from Congress MLA from Badrinath Rajendra Bhandari, eight former MLAs of Congress and other parties have joined BJP in the last few months. It is believed in political circles that the performance of BJP in this election in the constituency of these leaders and the votes received by the party candidate will decide what role they will be given in the future.
The game of defection
With the formation of a separate state of Uttarakhand, the game of defection also started here. Mainly the process of leaders changing sides accelerates before the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri became the Chief Minister when BJP came to power in the year 2007. At that time he was representing the Garhwal Lok Sabha seat. To become an MLA, he got Congress MLA TPS Rawat from Dhumakot to resign and won the by-election. Rawat contested the Lok Sabha by-election and became an MP. Congress responded to BJP on the same lines in 2012, when Vijay Bahuguna, Lok Sabha member from Tehri Garhwal, became the Chief Minister. BJP MLA Kiran Mandal from Sitarganj seat under Udham Singh Nagar district left the seat for Bahuguna. In return, Mandal was given responsibility with the rank of minister in Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam. Just before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Congress’s satrap Satpal Maharaj joined BJP. In 2016, 10 Congress MLAs including former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna joined BJP. Before the 2017 assembly elections, Yashpal Arya, a cabinet minister in the Harish Rawat government, also joined BJP. However, former ministers Harak Singh Rawat and Yashpal Arya, who left Congress in 2016, returned to Congress before the 2022 assembly elections.
About 15 thousand people joined BJP during the campaign
This sequence continued in the last few months. Apart from Congress MLA from Badrinath Rajendra Bhandari, other former MLAs who joined BJP include former MLA from Kotdwar Shailendra Singh Rawat, Vijaypal Sajwan from Tehri, Malchand, Mahavir Rangad, former minister Dinesh Dhanai, former minister Dinesh Agarwal from Dehradun, former MLA Daan Singh Bhandari from Bhimtal, former MLA Haridas from Haridwar. Apart from this, a large number of leaders from Congress, BSP, Aam Aadmi Party, UKD and other parties and organizations, representatives of municipal bodies and panchayats also joined BJP. According to the party, about 15 thousand people joined BJP during the joining campaign.
