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Journalism of Courage
Days after his wife was denied a ticket for the mayoral post in the local body elections, Uttarakhand Congress Vice-President (Organisation) Mathura Dutt Joshi joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday.
Along with Joshi, former MLA and minister of state Bittu Karnatak and Jagat Singh Khati, former chairman of Pithoragarh Nagar Palika Parishad, also joined the party. Karnatak is a close associate of former chief minister Harish Rawat and was denied a ticket from Almora in the civic body polls.
Ahead of the civic body polls in Uttarakhand scheduled for January 23, Joshi had asked for a ticket for his wife, Rukhmani Joshi, who is currently a member of the zila panchayat at Pithoragarh. However, the ticket for the mayoral position was given to a fellow member Anju Lunthi, enraging Joshi.
“I started working for the party in 1978 and have helped build the organisation from the booth level. But the party keeps demanding work and never rewards us. Almost 1,000 people have left the party over the last few years. It is in a shambles,” he said.
Joshi became a chief spokesperson in 2014. He was the vice-president of UP Youth Congress from 1996 till the formation of Uttarakhand. Joshi told The Indian Express that despite seeking a ticket for himself over the past decade, he has not been made a candidate in assembly elections. “Even when a revolt was happening in the Uttarakhand Congress, I stayed put. The Congress has put up an opposition to the BJP in various ideological and policy matters, but we have to kill ideology to survive,” he said.
At the BJP office, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said their joining will improve the party’s performance in the civic body polls. He said: “When the leaders told me they wanted to work with the BJP and me, I was happy that such dedicated and senior leaders have come to us. Jagat Singh and Bittu Karnatak have worked for more than three and a half decades and Joshi ji has four and a half decades of experience. Your arrival will help us win by a huge margin in the civic body polls”.
Meanwhile, Chief spokesperson for Uttarakhand Congress Garima Dasauni confirmed that Joshi sent his resignation to the party. “Mathura Dutt’s resignation is not only a dent, it is a personal loss. He had been doing a round of talks with other parties. The language he has been using is not how he is. He has never insulted anyone and is used to giving very balanced statements. His demeanour made it evident that he was leaving the party,” she said.
The Congress party has relieved him from his current post and also barred him from taking primary membership of the party for six years. The 65-year-old leader has been with the party since 1978.
