Thursday, 09 September 2021 | PNS | New Tehri
Independent MLA from Dhanaulti, Pritam Singh Panwar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party at the party’s head office in Delhi on Wednesday. Union minister Smriti Irani, BJP national media in-charge Anil Baluni and the party’s state president Madan Kaushik were among those who welcomed Panwar to the party on the occasion.
He said that he appreciated the work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with the infrastructural and development works being executed by the Central government in Uttarakhand. Talking to The Pioneer on the phone, Panwar said that he will contest the 2022 Assembly election either from Dhanaulti or Yamunotri. The constituency will be finalised after the issue is discussed with party, he added.
Panwar won as an independent candidate from Dhanaulti during the BJP wave in 2017. Earlier, he had joined the Progressive Democratic Front and was a minister in the previous Congress government in the state.Panwar had also actively participated in the statehood movement and was also jailed during the agitation.
In 2002, he won on Uttarakhand Kranti Dal ticket from Yamunotri constituency. In 2012 he again won from Yamunotri and served as a cabinet minister in the Congress led state government. In 2017 he left UKD and fought from Dhanaulti and won from the seat amid the BJP wave as an independent candidate.
Political observers point out that with this move, the BJP has scored political points and tried to project itself as the first choice of the politicians in the state. At a time when internal strife is rising to the fore in both the BJP and Congress, the BJP has also tried to send a message to its own party cadre contemplating to rebel against it.
