Back to BJP: Now B C Khanduri’s son, welcomed by Rahul, dumps Congress

In the 2019 LS election he fought on Congress ticket, Manish Khanduri lost by over 3 lakh votes; Congress says gave him due respect, admits departure “will affect” party

Former Uttarakhand CM B C Khanduri's son Manish (left) joined the BJP in the presence of current CM Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday. (Photo: BJP Uttarakhand/ X)

Exactly five years after he joined the Congress and lost his Lok Sabha seat by a huge margin, BJP stalwart B C Khanduri’s son Manish Khanduri returned to the BJP Saturday.

Manish, whose father and sister Ritu Khanduri Bhushan continue to be in the BJP, announced his resignation from the primary membership of the Congress on Friday. While Ritu is the MLA from Kotdwar and the Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker, Khanduri Senior, a retired Major General who was Minister of State (Independent) for Road Transport and Highways under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, is still a much-respected name in the hill state.

Manish’s departure hence will be another blow to the Congress, which failed to wrest power back from the BJP in the 2022 Assembly polls despite being seen as in with a chance. Then Congress president Rahul Gandhi had himself welcomed Manish into the party at a rally in Dehradun in March 2019.

Manish Khanduri joining BJP in the presence of senior party leaders in Uttarakhand, including CM Pushkar Singh Dhami. (Photo: BJP Uttarakhand/ X)

At the time, Manish had said his father had asked whether he could “tread the path of truth and work fearlessly”, now that he was joining the Congress, Manish said he had replied, “Yes”.

Days later, the Congress had fielded him from the Pauri Garhwal seat in the Lok Sabha elections. He lost to the BJP’s Tirath Singh Rawat by over 3 lakh votes.

Congress state president Karan Mahara said the party had given Manish all the respect he deserved, including a Lok Sabha ticket. “He was also one of the five members of our very important AICC Professionals Committee. He played an important role in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. But even after that he left,” Mahara told The Indian Express.

Admitting that he had tried reaching out to Manish but couldn’t, Mahara said: “This will definitely affect us. It is sad that he left at such a crucial time.”

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Manish, who holds an MBA degree from a university in the United States, has worked in media and IT firms both abroad and in India. He also worked as a business journalist.

He announced his resignation from the Congress via Facebook on Friday, posting: “I have taken this decision without anticipation or expectation of any personal gain.”

B C Khanduri remains one of the tallest leaders in the short political history of Uttarakhand, which was created in 2000. It was his achievement in piloting the Vajpayee government’s grand national highways development plan as Union minister of state that established his political credentials. His Army background also helped him in a state with its large defence population.

In 2007, after it returned to power in the second Assembly elections held in Uttarakhand, the BJP named Khanduri as CM. However, he was summarily dumped following the 2009 Lok Sabha loss of the BJP, and replaced with Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’. But such was the popularity of Khanduri that the BJP had to bring him back with just five months to go for the 2012 Assembly polls, with partymen coining the slogan “Khanduri hai zoroori (Khanduri is needed)”.

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The fact that the BJP came close to winning for the third successive time – despite those changes at the top – was attributed largely to Khanduri. But his own fate was sealed as he lost from Kotdwar to the Congress’s Surendra Singh Negi.

With just one seat more than the BJP, the Congress managed to form the government.

Since then, Khanduri has virtually receded into the background. Now over 90 years of age, he is battling health issues and is largely confined to his home.