Monday, 17 January 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
With political defections picking up in Uttarakhand just ahead of the Assembly elections, senior Congress leader and state president of Mahila Congress, Sarita Arya joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday.
The former MLA joined BJP in presence of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the party’s state president Madan Kaushik and other leaders at the BJP state office. Her inclusion is being seen by some as a damage control exercise by the BJP after the dramatic expulsion of senior cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat from the ministry and party late Sunday night.
Sarita Arya was upset ever since the father-son duo of former cabinet minister Yashpal Arya and Sanjeev Arya joined the Congress. In the last assembly elections she lost to Sanjeev from Nainital assembly constituency. After the return of Yashpal Arya and Sanjeev to Congress party’s fold, she was insistent on contesting from Nainital, the constituency she has nurtured for years and had represented after being elected in 2012.
Speaking on the occasion Arya said that she was demanding tickets not only for herself but other women leaders too in the Congress party. She said that though Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi has given the slogan ‘Ladki hoon lad sakti hoon’ the state unit of Congress is not giving respect to women.
CM Dhami said that Arya is known for the work she has done for the poor and deprived sections of the society. Welcoming her into the party, Dhami said that the BJP would be strengthened by her presence.
The State president of BJP, Madan Kaushik said that impressed by the vision Prime Minister Narendra Modi has for Uttarakhand and the young leadership in the state provided by CM Dhami, Sarita Arya has joined the BJP.
