By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 9 Mar: Congress leader Manish Khanduri who had quit the Congress party yesterday, today joined the BJP as was already being speculated since yesterday. Khanduri is son of former Chief Minister and veteran BJP leader Maj Gen (Retd) BC Khanduri and brother of speaker of state assembly, Ritu Khanduri Bhushan. The entry of Manish Khanduri in BJP has queered the pitch for the ticket aspirants from Pauri Lok Sabha constituency in the BJP. Khanduri is another ticket aspirant from Pauri seat having contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Pauri on a Congress ticket and therefore his entry in BJP makes him another contender for the BJP ticket on that seat. It may be recalled that BJP is yet to announce its candidates from Pauri and Haridwar seats while it has already announced three sitting MPs namely Ajay Bhatt, Ajay Tamta and Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah from Nainital, Almora and Tehri respectively.
It may also be noteworthy that Pauri is considered to be a strong bastion of BJP, which has won majority of the elections from here since 1991. Only Satpal Maharaj, then a Congress leader was able to win the constituency twice (in 1996 and 2009 respectively) and now Satpal Maharaj is also a BJP leader and a senior cabinet minister in Dhami Government. Pauri has produced some big leaders in BJP as well as Congress in Uttarakhand politics and the trend continues. Currently senior BJP leaders like Satpal Maharaj, BC Khanduri, Vijay Bahuguna (who has been a Congress leader in the past), former chief ministers Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat and some other major politicians like Dhan Singh Rawat all hail from Pauri. Therefore there is a long beeline for the BJP ticket from Pauri this time too which has added to the confusion for the BJP top leadership as to whom to hand over the party ticket. While Vijay Bahuguna, BC Khanduri, Satpal Maharaj and RP Nishank can be ruled out of the race for the party ticket due to various reasons, still former Chief Ministers Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat, who is also the sitting MP continue to be strong contenders for the ticket. In addition, Ritu Khanduri Bhushan and Deepti Rawat Bhardwaj ares also stated to be in the contention in addition to Manish Khanduri who too has now become a contender after quitting Congress and joining BJP. His entry in BJP also makes it somewhat convenient for Ritu Khanduri Bhushan who will not have to contest against her brother had Manish continued in the Congress and had been declared as a Congress ticket.
Sources in the BJP however, also claimed that the new developments have made it somewhat easier for Tirath Singh Rawat the sitting MP to be repeated as BJP candidate once again. Sources claimed that the party is seriously mulling on repeating Tirath Singh Rawat as candidate from Pauri and RP Nishank as candidate from Haridwar too. Despite these claims by top sources in the party, it can’t be denied that Manish Khanduri has also become a strong contender for the party ticket from Pauri after joining the BJP.
