General Elections 2019: BJP jolted in UP, Uttarakhand

With the Lok Sabha polls getting nearer, migration of politicians from one party to another has gathered momentum.

On Saturday it was BJP's turn to be jolted in Uttar Pradesh and the neighbouring state of Uttarakhand, when two of its leaders switched loyalties.

BJP Lok Sabha member from Allahabad Shyama Charan Gupta resigned from the saffron party and joined the Samajwadi Party (SP). Gupta was promptly declared his candidate from Banda Lok Sabha seat by the SP.

Gupta had been sulking for the past few months after indications that he might not be re-nominated by the BJP from Allahabad.

The BJP sought to downplay Gupta's departure and said that the latter hasn't done anything worthwhile in his constituency and that his "report card" was not "good".

"It's a good riddance," remarked state BJP president Mahendra Nath Pandey here.

Earlier, BJP MP from Baharaich, Savitribai Phule, had also resigned from the saffron party and joined the Congress. She was later declared the grand old party's candidate from Baharaich seat.

In Uttarakhand too, the BJP suffered a setback when senior saffron party leader and former Union minister B C Khanduri's son Manish Kumar Khanduri joined the Congress.

Manish joined the grand old party at a public meeting addressed by Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Uttarakhand's capital Dehradun, about 550 kilometres from here.

According to the sources in the Congress, Manish might contest from Pauri Lok Sabha seat in Uttarakhand on a Congress ticket.