AAP chief joins Congress in Uttarakhand; party hopeful for upcoming polls

After meeting Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Anant Ram Chauhan, working President of the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Uttarakhand unit, joined the Congress in Delhi ahead of the upcoming Uttarakhand assembly elections.

The Congress is delighted with Chauhan's joining as they shall be facing the incumbent BJP and also the AAP in the upcoming assembly polls. They were wary of the AAP cutting into their prospects in the state.

Meanwhile, the AAP is hoping to reap the ex-servicemen vote bank with Colonel Ajay Kothiyal, an ex-serviceman, who is heading the party. Kothiyal is a decorated former officer of the Indian Army and also the AAP's CM candidate for the upcoming assembly elections. The Congress organised a rally to honour veterans to counter this move of the AAP. They felicitated the war veterans of the 1971 India-Pakistan war after the year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Bangladesh Liberation War. The celebrations concluded with a ceremony in Delhi on December 15, 2021. Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi's rally in Dehradun on December 16 even saw a huge footfall of 1971 war veterans and other military veterans.

In the 2017 legislative assembly elections, the BJP won 56 seats out of the total 70 and 46.5 per cent of votes. The Congress, however, managed to capture only 11 seats despite getting 33.5 per cent of votes. The BJP had to change its Chief Minister thrice within five years. Though Trivendra Singh Rawat was made the CM initially, he was replaced by Tirath Singh Rawat in March 2021 who was then replaced by Pushkar Singh Dhami a few months later.