It's less than a month before Uttarakhand goes to polls on February 14. However, even a day is a long time in politics. Just weeks ahead of the battle, Uttarakhand Mahila Congress President Sarita Arya joins BJP.
After losing a row of ministers in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP was more than happy to have Arya on board, who joined the party in the presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and state BJP president Madan Kaushik at BJP headquarters in Dehradun.
In a series of tweets, Dhami said he was happy to welcome the former Nainital MLA to his party. He also remarked that within the Congress party, there was no respect for women, party workers and general public.
Why did she quit Congress?
Sarita Arya, reportedly, was keen on a ticket from the Nainital constituency but she was not sure of Congress fielding her from the same. She had lost the seat in 2017 Assembly polls to Sanjeev Arya who contested on a BJP ticket.
Sanjeev Arya is now in the Congress since October 2021. In an interview to media houses, she has been quoted as saying that she felt insulted by being in Congress as she could manage providing tickets to women candidates. "BJP listened to my condition and assured me respect."
Shuffling around
In the meanwhile, the battle for Uttarakhand Assembly Polls is heating up by the day. With many speculating that former BJP minister Harak Singh Rawat was likely to join Congress, he denied it though he is currently in Delhi and likely to meet senior Congress leaders.
In an interview to ANI, he said, "I don't want to make any statement on this." He, however, also claimed that Congress party was set to form the government in Uttarakhand and that he will work for the Congress party.
