Dehradun: Uttarakhand Congress leader Ranjeet Das on Saturday joined the BJP here in the presence of its state unit chief Mahendra Bhatt ahead of the September 5 Bageshwar Assembly bypoll.
Das had contested from Bageshwar on a Congress ticket in the 2022 Uttarakhand assembly polls.
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Welcoming Das into the BJP, Bhatt described him as a leader with mass support and said that he had polled more than 20,000 votes in the last assembly polls. His joining the BJP would strengthen the party, the Uttarakhand BJP chief said. Before joining the BJP at its state unit office here, Das met Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
A former Congress MLA and minister’s son, Das said his family had served the party for generations and claimed that it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to maintain self-respect in that party.
“The Congress is going to give poll ticket to someone who used to claim that a party ticket lay under his feet. Being a self-respecting worker I could not have gone to people seeking votes for him,” Das said.
The Bageshwar assembly seat fell vacant in April this year with the death of sitting MLA and cabinet minister Chandan Ramdas. —PTI
