Former Congress leader and son of former chief minister Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri, Manish Khanduri joined the Bharatiya Janata Party a day after resigning from the Congress.  He joined the BJP in the presence of the party’s State president Mahendra Bhatt, State in-charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam and chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, Bhatt said that BC Khanduri had a major role in developing party workers in the State and that Manish Khanduri is part of the BJP family. He said that the trend of leaders joining the BJP impressed by the works being done under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will pick up pace. “Manish Khanduri was one of the few good people remaining in the Congress so his joining the BJP to take the State and nation forward is a correct step. He had worked hard in the field during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and was appreciated by the people. We hope that the party will benefit from his capability and experience in achieving its target. Following the example set by Khanduri, many other good leaders and office bearers of the Congress will join the BJP in the coming days,” the BJP State president said.

Addressing the media on the occasion, Khanduri said that he had not joined the BJP for any position or election ticket. “The BJP has done a lot for us- it made my father the chief minister twice and my sister the Vidhan Sabha speaker. I will contribute my bit as a party worker to take the State forward. I had joined politics based on my ideology and I made some good friends in the Congress. However, the fact is that the BJP is the only platform which enables the development of the State and nation and Prime Minister Modi is the only leader who can make this possible,” he said.

It will be recalled that Khanduri was fielded by the Congress as its candidate in the Garhwal constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections which he lost to the BJP candidate Tirath Singh Rawat.