Former Bharatiya Janata Party MlA Dan Singh Bhandari and former vice-chairperson of the State women commission, Geeta Thakur formally joined the Congress party at a function presided over by the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay and CM Harish Rawat here on Thursday. The programme held at the Congress Bhawan was mainly a ceremonial formality since both the BJP leaders miffed at party leadership had already left the party and expressed allegiance to the Congress in the near past.
Expressing his views on the occasion, the former BJP MlA from Bheemtal Vidhan Sabha constituency, Dan Singh Bhandari lambasted his former party while expressing appreciation for Chief Minister Harish Rawat and the Congress party. The other turncoat, Geeta Thakur recalled how in the near past she had initially been fielded by the BJP as the party candidate for Rajya Sabha seat only to be made to withdraw her name in favour of another candidate put up by the party. Thakur had been in the BJP for about 15 years and was also fielded by the BJP as its official candidate from the Gangolihat constituency in the Vidhan Sabha elections. Bhandari and Thakur also lambasted the BJP alleging that the party was not working in the interests of Dalits and women. Chief minister Harish Rawat welcomed the duo at their formal induction into the Congress party.
He further opined that despite the fact that the two political leaders had their support base among the electorate, they had been treated with apathy by the BJP. Speaking on the occasion, the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay said that with Thakur and Bhandari formally joining the Congress party along with their supporters, the party is also responsible for taking care of their welfare.
It is pertinent to mention here that miffed at party leadership for purportedly negative bias towards them, Thakur and Bhandari had left the BJP earlier this year. However, their intention to join the Congress had elicited opposition from within the Congress party with the PCC chief and chief minister maintaining different stance on the issue. Upadhyay was at that time not in favour of letting the two BJP turncoats officially secure membership of the Congress. However, with differences of opinion having been apparently resolved for the time being, party sources opine that now the Congress will attempt to capitalise on the strengths of Thakur and Bhandari, who claim considerable support base in their respective constituencies and communities. On the other hand, political analysts point out that their formal induction into the Congress may once again cause factionalism and differences within the party to resurface especially on the issue of allocation of party tickets for the coming Vidhan Sabha elections.