Dehradun (Uttarakhand): A day after he resigned from the primary membership of Congress, Manish Khanduri joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Dehradun on Saturday.
Manish Khanduri, son of former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and veteran BJP leader Retd Major General Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri, joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami at the BJP Mahanagar office in the state capital.
Khanduri received a warm welcome from Chief Minister Dhami and other party workers as they felicitated him with garlands and an embrace.
Election in-charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam and state party chief Mahendra Bhatt were also present at the occasion.
Earlier, Khanduri announced his decision in a Facebook post and said, "I am resigning from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress, and all associated positions. I have taken this decision without anticipation or expectation of any personal gain."
In a big jolt for the Congress party ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Suresh Pachouri also joined the BJP in Bhopal on Saturday.
Significantly, the setback to the grand old party came just a day after Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra crossed over into Gujarat after a brief stopover in Madhya Pradesh.
The Congress released its first list of 39 candidates for Lok Sabha elections on Friday, with party General Secretary KC Venugopal asserting that his party's priority is to win the maximum number of Lok Sabha seats.
The names have been announced for Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshwadeep, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Telangana, and Tripura.
Of the total 39 candidates announced, 16 are from Kerala, seven from Karnataka and six from Chhattisgarh, and four from Telangana. Two from Meghalaya and one each from Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim and Lakshwadeep.
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal informed that senior party leader Rahul Gandhi will again contest from the Wayanad constituency, the seat won by him in 2019.
The list of 39 candidates was released after the party held its Central Election Committee meeting on Thursday.
The Lok Sabha polls are likely to be held in April-May this year.
—ANI