Days after his wife was denied a ticket for the mayoral post in the local body elections, Uttarakhand Congress Vice-President (Organisation) Mathura Dutt Joshi joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday.
Chief spokesperson for Uttarakhand Congress Garima Dasauni confirmed that Joshi sent his resignation to the party. “Mathura Dutt’s resignation is not only a dent, it is a personal loss. He had been doing a round of talks with other parties. The language he has been using is not how he is. He has never insulted anyone and is used to giving very balanced statements. His demeanour made it evident that he was leaving the party,” she said.
The Congress party has relieved him from his current post and also barred him from taking primary membership of the party for six years.
The Indian Express has learnt that the BJP leadership is in contact with him after he expressed displeasure at the Congress, with sources saying that his plan to switch could get clearer in the evening. The 65-year-old leader has been with the party since 1978.
Ahead of the civic body polls in Uttarakhand scheduled for January 23, Joshi had asked for a ticket for his wife, Rukhmani Joshi, who is currently a member of the zila panchayat at Pithoragarh. However, the ticket for the mayoral position was given to a fellow member Anju Lunthi, enraging Joshi.
“I started working for the party in 1978 and have helped build the organisation from the booth level. But the party keeps demanding work and never rewards us. Almost 1,000 people have left the party over the last few years. It is in a shambles,” he said.
Sources said that senior BJP leadership is in touch with Joshi. Without naming the leaders, BJP state media coordinator Manveer Singh Chauhan, said: “Several senior state-level leaders of the Congress Party, along with hundreds of their supporters, will join the BJP today (Saturday). Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will also be present”.
Joshi has served as the vice-chairman of the Higher Education Improvement Committee for the government and became a chief spokesperson in 2014. He was the vice-president of UP Youth Congress from 1996 till the formation of Uttarakhand.
He said that despite seeking a ticket for himself over the past decade, he has not been made a candidate in assembly elections. “Even when a revolt was happening in the Uttarakhand Congress, I stayed put. The Congress has put up an opposition to the BJP in various ideological and policy matters, but we have to kill ideology to survive,” he said.
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