PNS | DEHRADUN
In a major jolt to Uttarakhand Congress ahead of the Urban Local Bodies election, the vice president (Organisation) Mathura Dutt Joshi resigned from the primary membership of the party on Saturday. He along with two other senior leaders, Bittu Karnatak and Jagat Singh Khati, joined the BJP in a programme organsied at the State office of the party.
Joshi has served the Congress party in many capacities and was considered to be the second in command in the party organisation of the State.
Joshi sent his resignation letter to the national president Mallikarjun Kharge. In the letter he said that he is resigning from the party after serving it for 48 long years.
The Congress party also expelled Joshi for a period of six years from the party for engaging in anti-party activity. Joshi had expressed his annoyance at the denial of the Mayoral ticket to his wife from Pithoragarh and had threatened to resign from the party.
The Congress party has nominated Anju Lunthi as the mayoral candidate from Pithoragarh. Lunthi had contested the by-election of Pithoragarh Assembly constituency in 2019 which was necessitated after the death of Prakash Pant after the senior leader and the current MLA Mayukh Mahar declined to contest the by-election.
The candidature of Lunthi has also not gone down well with the party MLA from Pithoragarh, Mayukh Mahar who is openly supporting an independent candidate in Pithoragarh.
Bittu Karnatak, another senior leader of Congress resigned from the party after being denied mayoral ticket from Almora.
