Back to BJP: Now B C Khanduri’s son, welcomed by Rahul, dumps Congress

Exactly five years after he joined the Congress and lost his Lok Sabha seat by a huge margin, BJP stalwart B C Khanduri’s son Manish Khanduri returned to the BJP Saturday.

Manish, whose father and sisterRitu Khanduri Bhushan continue to be in the BJP, announced his resignation from the primary membership of the Congress on Friday. While Ritu is the MLA from Kotdwar and the Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker, Khanduri Senior, a retired Major General who was Minister of State (Independent) for Road Transport and Highways under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, is still a much-respected name in the hill state.

Manish’s departure hence will be another blow to the Congress, which failed to wrest power back from the BJP in the 2022 Assembly polls despite being seen as in with a chance. Then Congress presidentRahul Gandhi had himself welcomed Manish into the party at a rally in Dehradun in March 2019.

At the time, Manish had said his father had asked whether he could “tread the path of truth and work fearlessly”, now that he was joining the Congress, Manish said he had replied, “Yes”.

Days later, the Congress had fielded him from the Pauri Garhwal seat in the Lok Sabha elections. He lost to theBJP’s Tirath Singh Rawat by over 3 lakh votes.

Congress state president Karan Mahara said the party had given Manish all the respect he deserved, including a Lok Sabha ticket. “He was also one of the five members of our very important AICC Professionals Committee. He played an important role in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. But even after that he left,” Mahara told The Indian Express.

Admitting that he had tried reaching out to Manish but couldn’t, Mahara said: “This will definitely affect us. It is sad that he left at such a crucial time.”

Manish, who