Uttarakhand BJP leader Yashpal Arya, his MLA son join Congress

In a jolt to the BJP ahead of the next years Uttarakhand assembly polls state transport minister Yashpal Arya quit the saffron party on Monday and returned to the Congress along with his MLA son SanjeevYashpal Arya was the president of Uttarakhand Congress from 2007 to 2014 He had switched over to the BJP in 2017 ahead of the last assembly elections in UttarakhandArya 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 at the party headquarters in the national capitalEarlier in the day they met former Congress president Rahul Gandhi at his residenceIt is an important day for me as I have returned to my family It is my ghar wapsi There cant be a happier day for me I feel relieved after my return Arya said soon after joining the CongressAlso read Lakhimpur case Cong workers hold silent protest in Jaipur demand resignation of Ajay MishraArya represents the Bajpur SC assembly constituency in the state He earlier represented the Mukteshwar assembly constituency He is a former speaker and was a minister in the Congress government led by Harish RawatArya said he will work selflessly to strengthen the partyIf the Congress emerges stronger then democracy will be strengthened further he saidArya said he started his political life in the Congress and has been Youth Congress president twice Uttarakhand Congress president and then the Speaker of the first Uttarakhand assembly in his 40 yearlong political lifeArya has been a sixtime MLA including twice from Uttar Pradesh when Uttarakhand was part of itWelcoming him into the party fold Surjewala said Arya has played a significant role in the uplift of Scheduled Castes in both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand He said Arya has sent his resignation to the state GovernorHis son Sanjeev Arya represents the Nainital Assembly constituency in Uttarakhand He has also resigned from his MLA seat He is involved in the cooperatives sector in the stateAnother BJP leader Harinder Singh Laddi who had earlier been the vice chief Uttarakhands Irrigation Advisory Committee also joined the CongressRawat said they felt pain when Arya had to leave the Congress for some reason He is today joining back at a time when the party is fighting several challenges he said Venugopal said it is a homecoming for both of them to the Congress They met Rahul Gandhi and said they were happy to return to their old family he saidThis is one of the happiest moments for the Congress party as Yashpal Arya and Sanjeev Arya have decided to join the Congress giving a clearcut indication of coming elections in UttarakhandThe wind is in favour of the Congress in Uttarakhand he saidRahul Gandhi told them their entry into the Congress will definitely strengthen the Congress he saidAICC incharge for Uttarakhand Devendra Yadav and PCC president Ganesh Godiyal and CLP leader Pritam Singh were also present and welcomed the return of the fatherson duo into the CongressThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever