By Arun Pratap Singh
Tharali, 3 Jan: Jai Prakash Tamta, a rebel BJP leader, who was contesting as an independent candidate for the post of Karnaprayag Nagar Palika President in Chamoli district, has today surprisingly announced support to the official BJP candidate Ganesh Shah. It may be recalled that yesterday was the last day for withdrawal of nominations, and he did not withdraw his nomination.
Interestingly JP Tamta is son of the BJP MLA from Tharali, Bhupal Ram Tamta. According to party sources, both he and his MLA father Bhupal Ram Tamta yesterday remained incommunicado when the BJP leadership tried to reach out to them to convince JP Tamta to withdraw his nomination.
Today, however, sources claimed that the BJP leadership managed to contact the father-son duo and they declared support to the official party candidate, Ganesh Shah. Bhupal Ram Tamta had, before the 2022 assembly elections, switched over to BJP from Congress and was granted a ticket while the party denied ticket to the outgoing MLA from Tharali, Munni Devi Shah. To appease her, this time, her son Ganesh Shah has been granted the BJP ticket for the post of Chairman, Karnaprayag Municipal Council. Tamta has declared that he will not canvass votes for himself in the elections now and instead will work for Shah’s win.
Congress has fielded Ram Dayal from Karnaprayag. Apart from these two, six other independent candidates, including Jai Prakash Tamta, son of Tharali MLA Bhupalram Tamta, have also entered the race.
Jai PrakashTamta today shared with the media that his elder brother had spoken to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. Following the Chief Minister’s instructions, he decided not to contest the elections and to support the BJP. Tamta explained that he could not withdraw his name due to being out of Karnaprayag on the day of withdrawal, but he now fully supports the BJP.
