Uttarakhand Transport Minister Yashpal Arya, his MLA son resign from BJP, join Congress
New Delhi(PTI): In a big jolt for the BJP ahead of the next year's assembly polls, Uttarakhand Transport Minister Yashpal Arya quit the saffron party on Monday and joined the Congress along with his MLA son Sanjeev.
Yashpal Arya and his son, along with their supporters, joined the Congress in the presence of senior party leaders Harish Rawat, K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala in New Delhi.
Earlier in the day, they met former Congress president Rahul Gandhi at his residence.
From 2007 to 2014, Yashpal Arya was the president of Uttarakhand Congress and had been a former speaker and a minister in the Congress government led by Rawat.
He had switched over to the BJP in 2017 ahead of the assembly elections in Uttarakhand. He represents the Mukteshwar assembly constituency in the state.
His son Sanjeev Arya represents the Nainital Assembly constituency in Uttarakhand.
Shri @RahulGandhi welcomes Shri Yashpal Arya & Shri Sanjeev Arya into the Congress party in the presence of Shri @kcvenugopalmp Shri @harishrawatcmuk Shri @devendrayadvinc Shri @UKGaneshGodiyal Shri @incpritamsingh & Smt. @DipikaPS pic.twitter.com/C84nOiS3TC
— Congress (@INCIndia) October 11, 2021
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BJP has history of ‘contradictory alliances’, says BK Hariprasad
Bengaluru: Congress MLC B. K. Hariprasad has launched a sharp attack on the BJP, accusing the party of hypocrisy over its criticism of alliance politics in Tamil Nadu.
In a post on X on Friday, Hariprasad said BJP leader B. L. Santhosh criticising the Congress party’s alliance politics in Tamil Nadu was “not just laughable, but the height of political contradiction.”
He said the Congress has always joined hands with like-minded parties to protect secular and democratic values in the country.
Hariprasad questioned the BJP over several of its past and present alliances across the country. Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tripura, Bihar and Maharashtra, he accused the BJP of sharing power with parties it had earlier criticised.
He alleged that the BJP had aligned with separatist and corruption-linked political forces in different states for political gains.
“The BJP, which speaks against alliances today, should first look at its own political history,” he said, adding that the party’s record was full of “contradictions and changing stands.”
Hariprasad also accused the BJP of using central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Department and CBI as political tools to target opposition leaders, topple governments and influence electoral mandates.
He further claimed that the people of Tamil Nadu had strongly rejected the BJP and its ideology in the recent election.
“Congress forms alliances to protect the Constitution, secularism and national unity, while the BJP enters into alliances only for power,” he said.
