A switch in time: Rebel Congress legislators of Uttarakhand join BJP

New Delhi: The nine disqualified rebel Congress legislators of Uttarakhand, whose shifting loyalty led to a political upheaval in the hill state, joined the BJP on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_2787892” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The nine rebel Congress leaders were barred from voting in the floor test. Getty images[/caption] The rebel Congress leaders joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at its headquarters here in the presence of Uttarakhand in-charge Shyam Jaju. The move was decided at a meeting of the Uttarakhand BJP core group leaders with BJP president Amit Shah and other senior leaders. The meeting was attended by BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, former Uttarakhand chief ministers Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Ramesh Pokharial Nishank and senior leader Satpal Maharaj, among others. The nine rebel Congress leaders were barred from voting in the floor test. Congress legislator Rekha Arya, who changed her loyalty to BJP on the day of the floor test, has also given her consent to join the saffron party. Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal had disqualified the nine, led by former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna. Other than Bahuguna, the nine rebel Congress leaders were Harak Singh Rawat, Subodh Unial, Amrita Rawat, Umesh Sharma, Shailendra Mohan Singhal, Pradeep Batra, Pranav Singh and Shailarani Rawat. They had challenged their disqualification earlier in the Nainital High Court and then in Supreme Court, but didn’t get any relief.