By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 4 Sep: Former BJP MLA from Tehri, Dhan Singh Negi, who had joined the Congress during the 2022 assembly elections after being denied a ticket by the party and had contested the assembly elections as the Congress candidate, returned today to the BJP.
It may be recalled that, before the last Parliamentary Elections, former Independent MLA Dinesh Dhanai, who had served as a minister in the Congress Government led by then Chief Minister Harish Rawat, had also joined the BJP. Currently former Congress leader Kishore Upadhyay is the BJP MLA from Tehri, who had joined the party just before the 2022 assembly elections.
On the first day of the BJP membership campaign today, hundreds of people joined the party under the leadership of former MLA Dhan Singh Negi in the presence of State President Mahendra Bhatt and Haridwar MP Trivendra Rawat. On this occasion, Bhatt welcomed everyone and called upon the party workers to work hard to break the old record of membership in the state and strengthen PM Modi’s hands even more with a broad organisation.
On this occasion, former CM and Haridwar MP Trivendra Singh Rawat welcomed all the people joining the party and wished them well. He expressed confidence that the return of Dhan Singh Negi would give more energy and strength to the party. Negi claimed that he had always been associated with BJP with respect to his ideology and thoughts. He added that he is proud to back in the party and assured he would work along with his supporters to further strengthen the party in Tehri.
Now that, after Dinesh Dhanai, Dhan Singh Negi has also joined the BJP, the political pitch for the party in Tehri is set to become complicated. According to political pundits, all the three leaders including the present MLA Kishore Upadhyay are likely to state claim for the BJP ticket in the assembly elections in 2027, though only one can get the party ticket. In such a situation, the other two who fail to get the ticket may choose to leave the party and contest either as rebel candidates or as the Congress candidate. The political pundits are also questioning the wisdom of the BJP leadership in allowing all and sundry to join the party and then queering the pitch. They also remind that just before the parliamentary elections, the Congress MLA from Badrinath, Rajendra Bhandari, had joined the BJP and quit as MLA. In the byelection that ensued after, he contested as BJP candidate and despite being the outgoing MLA, had lost by a large margin.
