Monday, 18 March 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Following the resignation of Badrinath MLA Rajendra Bhandari and his joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, his membership of the Vidhan Sabha ended on Sunday. A notification issued by the Vidhan Sabha secretariat on Sunday states that Bhandari had tendered his resignation from the Vidhan Sabha on March 17 and that the resignation was accepted by the Vidhan Sabha speaker Ritu Khanduri. Considering this, the Badrinath constituency seat in the Assembly is now vacant. Earlier in the day, the Pradesh Congress Committee president Karan Mahara had sought Bhandari’s disqualification from the Vidhan Sabha. In a letter written to the Vidhan Sabha speaker, the PCC president has stated that Bhandari had tendered his resignation on Sunday, which was accepted. He then joined the BJP. Mahara stated that Bhandari was elected from the Badrinath Assembly constituency on the Congress ticket. Since he has resigned from the Congress, his membership of the Vidhan Sabha is automatically annulled under the anti-defection law. Considering this, the PCC president has requested the Vidhan Sabha speaker to announce Bhandari’s disqualification.
It is pertinent to mention here that a day before resigning from the Congress, Bhandari was addressing a public gathering to campaign for the Congress candidate Ganesh Godiyal in the Garhwal parliamentary constituency. Video clips of his speech being shared on social media show him referring to talk of him leaving the Congress. “Some are saying that my wife will first leave the Congress and then I will also leave the Congress. However, I am making it clear that I will remain in the Congress,” he said.
In a related development, the Congress has expelled its former candidate from Chaubattakhal Assembly constituency Keshar Singh Negi, former Pauri Assembly constituency candidate Naval Kishore and Pauri block Pramukh Deepak Khugshal for a period of six years. They have been expelled for anti-party activities and consistently not attending the general and special meetings of the party, the Congress Pauri district president Vinod Singh Negi stated in a memo.
