Uttarakhand assembly polls: Former state Congress chief Kishore Upadhyaya likely to join BJP tomorrow

In a major political development, former Uttarakhand Congress chief Kishore Upadhyaya is likely to join BJP tomorrow.

According to news agency ANI, the leader could contest the Assembly polls from Tehri constituency.

The development comes nearly three weeks after Congress sacked Upadhyay from all positions for anti-party activities, pending further action in the matter.

Upadhyay is the chairman of the Uttarakhand Congress Coordination Committee and is a member of the state Congress Core Committee and the Uttarakhand Congress Pradesh Election Committee.

The Congress' in-charge of Uttarakhand affairs Devendra Yadav, in a letter to Upadhyay had accused him of "hobnobbing" with the BJP and other political parties.

Notably, earlier in the day today, Uttarakhand Congress screening committee members met on Wednesday afternoon and discussed the third list of candidates for the state which is likely to be released by Thursday, according to ANI report.

Meanwhile, the BJP today released a list of nine candidates for the poll bound state and fielded former chief minister BC Khanduri's daughter and wife of current Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan Reetu Bhushan Khanduri from Kotdwar.

The list of candidates along with their assembly constituencies includes Shaila Rani Rawat (Kedarnath), Rajpal Singh (Jhabrera SC), Muneesh Saini (Piran Kaliyar), Reetu Bhushan Khanduri (Kotdwar), Pramod Nainwal (Ranikhet), Mohan Singh Mehra (Jageshwar), Mohan Singh Bisht (Lalkuwa), Jogendrapal Singh Routela (Haldwani) and Shiv Arora (Rudrapur).

With this, the party has so far announced candidates for a total of 68 seats in the first phase, 59 in the second phase, while there are 2 seats on which the names of the candidates are yet to be announced for the upcoming assembly polls which may possibly include Kishore Upadhyaya.

Polls to elect the 70-member state legislative assembly are scheduled to be held on February 14. The counting will take place on March 10.

(with agency inputs)

Published on: Wednesday, January 26, 2022, 11:10 PM IST