Sarita Arya, the president of the Uttarakhand Women’s Congress and a former Nainital MLA, joined the ruling party on Monday and was expelled from the Congress.
The former MLA, joined BJP in presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, state party president Madan Kaushik, and other leaders. For six years, she was barred from Congress.
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Dhami welcomed Arya into the party, saying she had always advocated for the underprivileged, marginalised groups, and women. He predicted that her presence would significantly strengthen the party.
Despite being the state’s Mahila Congress president, Arya said she joined the BJP out of a “feeling of remorse” for not being able to get seats for women candidates in Uttarakhand.
Arya wanted to run for the Nainital seat, but she doubted the Congress would put her forward.
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In the 2017 Assembly elections, she lost the seat to Sanjeev Arya, who ran on a BJP ticket. He is presently a member of Congress.