Haridwar (Uttarakhand): Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and BJP candidate from Haridwar constituency, Trivendra Singh Rawat, said on Sunday that the Congress is in a state of confusion and that is the reason the grand old party has not been able to announce its candidates.
The former Uttarakhand Chief Minister also took blessings from the holy Ganges earlier in the day.
Speaking to ANI, Rawat said, "I took the blessings of Ma Ganga. Congress is in a state of confusion. Only they can tell this (whether they have candidates or not) but, yes, they have been unable to announce the candidates."
Trivendra Singh Rawat has been fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the Haridwar Lok Sabha constituency.
The BJP announced its candidature for two seats in Uttarakhand on March 13.
The party has fielded former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat from the Haridwar seat, while Anil Baluni, who is the National Chief Spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is set to contest from the Garhwal seat.
Meanwhile, in a setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Uttarakhand MLA and a prominent leader of the grand old party, Rajendra Singh Bhandari, joined the BJP here on Sunday.
The 60-year-old MLA from the Badrinath assembly seat in Uttarakhand joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Union Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi.
Bhandari, a three-term Congress legislator who was also a minister in the state in the past, joined the BJP hours after he resigned from the Congress.
Bhandari, after joining the ruling party, lauded the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that he has full faith in the BJP's policies.
The polling of all five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand will take place on April 19 in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Saturday.
The Gazette notification will be issued on March 20, with nominations ending on March 27, while the last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 30.
The counting of votes will be done on June 4.
Since 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has held all five seats in the state -- Almora (SC reserved), Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, Garhwal and Tehri Garhwal.
—ANI
