Uttarakhand unit Anant Ram Chauhan has joined the Congress in Delhi after meeting Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Accompanied by former MLA Nav Prabhat, Chauhan before meeting the Congress General Secretary has met state incharge Devendra Yadav.
The Congress considers Chauhan a prize catch as the party is wary of AAP cutting into its prospects in the hill state.
In the upcoming assembly polls, Congress is facing incumbent BJP and the AAP.
The AAP is eyeing the vote bank of ex-servicemen with Colonel Ajay Kothiyal, an ex-serviceman is heading the party.
Kothiyal, is a decorated former officer of the Indian Army and AAP CM candidate for the upcoming 2022 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly elections.
The Congress sensed this move of the AAP and had organised a rally to honour veterans.
Congress felicitated the war veterans of the 1971 India-Pakistan war after the end of the year-long celebration of 50th anniversary of Bangladesh Liberation War.
The celebrations formally concluded with a ceremony in the national capital on December 15, 2021.
On December 16, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi addressed a rally in Dehradun that saw a 'huge' footfall of 1971 War Veterans and other military veterans.
In the 2017 Legislative Assembly elections, the BJP won 56 seats with 46.5 per cent votes while contesting on all 70 seats in the state. Intrestingly, the Congress had won just 11 seats in the assembly polls despite getting 33.5 per cent votes.
Seeing the mood of the people of the state, BJP had to change its Chief Minister thrice within five years.
After winning the election in 2017, it made Trivendra Singh Rawat the Chief Minister. In March 2021, he was replaced by Tirath Singh Rawat and after a few months the command of the state was handed over to Pushkar Singh Dhami.
The BJP's main rival in Uttarakhand is the Congress, and by winning again, it wants to send a message that revival of the latter in 2024 is difficult.
