By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 18 May: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today suffered a major setback in Uttarakhand when its Chief Ministerial face in the recent assembly elections, Col Ajay Kothiyal (Retd) resigned from the membership of the party. This information was shared by Kothiyal through a tweet posted today. He said that he had taken the decision keeping in mind the sentiments of ex-servicemen, ex-paramilitary personnel, women and youth of the state as well as eminent intellectuals from the state. After Kothiyal, former Aam Aadmi Party working president Bhupesh Upadhyay also resigned from the party today.
However, Kothiyal refrained from sharing his future plans on twitter. It may be recalled that the AAP high command had made Kothiyal the chief ministerial candidate in the recently held Uttarakhand Assembly Elections, but the party had received a heavy drubbing in the elections failing to win even a single seat. Col Kothiyal himself lost his election from the Gangotri seat.
It may further be recalled that Kothiyal had joined the Aam Aadmi Party on 20 April 2021, almost one year before the elections at the time when the party was trying hard to establish itself in Uttarakhand and many believed that it had a strong chance to make a mark here. Before that, he was in touch with many BJP leaders too but wasn’t given any assurance party ticket. He was declared as the CM candidate by AAP months before the elections hoping to get votes of ex-servicemen and their families which have strong presence in the state.
It may be recalled that Col Kothiyal is a 1992 batch Army officer and joined as commissioned officer with the Garhwal Regiment. During his posting in Kashmir, he was involved in encounters of many dreaded terrorists, too, particularly during Operation Parakram, which was carried out by Garhwal Regiment. He had also served as Principal of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in Uttarkashi before joining politics and was also involved in reconstruction work at Kedarnath.
It remains to be seen if he chooses to remain in active politics and joins some other political party or chooses to be a social activist.
