Exodus continues in Uttarakhand Cong, sitting Badrinath MLA joins BJP

Bhandari’s exit comes a day after the daughter-in-law of senior Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat, who is under the Enforcement Directorate scanner, Anukriti Gusain, quit the party and is reportedly set to join the BJP. Earlier this month, Manish Khanduri, son of BJP stalwart and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri, also parted ways with the grand old party to join the BJP.

Bhandari, a three-time MLA and former state minister, in a letter addressed to state Congress chief Karan Mahara, resigned from the primary membership of the party.

In the 2022 Assembly polls, Bhandari had defeated state BJP chief Mahendra Bhatt by a narrow margin of over 2,000 votes. He had lost the Badrinath seat to Bhatt in 2017 by over 5,500 votes while in 2012 he defeated the BJP’s Prem Ballabh Pant. Prior to the delimitation in 2007, Bhandari had defeated Bhatt from the Nandprayag seat by a slim margin.

Interestingly, the Badrinath Assembly constituency is the lone seat held by the Congress among the 14 segments falling under the Garhwal Lok Sabha seat, from where the BJP has nominated chief spokesperson Anil Baluni for the upcoming polls.

Uttarakhand Congress vice-president (organisation) Mathura Dutt Joshi said Mahara has sent a letter to Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan urging her to disqualify Bhandari as an MLA under the anti-defection law.