Roorkee mayor Gaurav Goel and 12 councillors of Municipal Corporation of Roorkee (MCR) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party at a function here in the presence of BJP State president Bansidhar Bhagat and chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Sunday.
Goel was earlier in the BJP but had contested the MCR election as an independent candidate after being denied a ticket by the party. Speaking on the occasion, the CM said that the BJP had registered victory in five out of eight municipal corporations in the State.
With Goel joining the BJP, there will now be BJP mayors in six of the eight municipal corporations. Rawat said, “Local bodies are in themselves autonomous mini-governments which strengthen the State Government.
With the Roorkee mayor and 12 councillors joining the BJP, the party will definitely become stronger. Now, 75 per cent of municipal corporations have BJP mayors.
We have given the state a completely corruption-free government and the state is presently moving forward swiftly. We are confident that Goel will continue working efficiently for the development of Roorkee and fulfill expectations of the public,” said the CM.Speaking on the occasion, the BJP state president welcomed Goel to the party, stating that though he had contested the election as an independent candidate due to some conditions, he never made a negative comment about the BJP organisation.
Bhagat said, “Goel always maintained good coordination with the BJP workers. Today he has once again become a part of the BJP. Not only in Uttarakhand but across the antion, the party is moving ahead strongly.
The blame for causing degeneration in the nation goes to the Congress party. There was a period when Atal Bihari Vajpayee assumed charge at the Centre following which the nation began progressing swiftly in the right direction.
However, unfortunately the Congress came to power again and brought the nation to dire straits. Today under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, India stands in the front row of powerful nations,” he said, while adding that in the future too the BJP will continue holding functions to bring new members within its folds to further strengthen the party. Expressing his views, Goel said that he had contested the local body election as an independent due to the circumstances.
But, even then his sentiments for the party were the same as when he was a member of the party. He said, “I contested the election but never used wrong words for the BJP and its organisation. I am experiencing considerable joy in once again becoming a member of the BJP,” said Goel.
The councillors who joined the BJP along with Goel include Devki Devi, Punam Devi, Virendra Gupta, Sachin Chowdhary, Navnit Sharma, Ankit Chowdhary, Neetu Sharma, Geeta Devi, Vinita Rawat, Dhiraj Saini, Nitin Tyagi and Ajay Pradhan.
BJP state vice president and MLA Khajan Das, State minister Dhan Singh Rawat, state vice president Devendra Bhasin and other party leaders were also present on occasion.