Uttarakhand’s transport minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashpal Arya rejoined the Congress party along with his MLA son Sanjeev Arya in Delhi on Monday, dealing a blow to the BJP ahead of the assembly elections in the state early next year.
Arya, a six time MLA and a prominent Dalit leader, was welcomed back to the party in the presence of senior leaders Harish Rawat and KC Venugopal. Arya and his son quit the Congress in 2017 before the state assembly elections. Their rejoining ceremony took place at the All India Congress Committee headquarters at Akbar Road.
“He (Yashpal) has just tendered his resignation from the post of Uttarakhand cabinet minister,” Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said . Surjewala also recalled that in his previous stint in the Congress, Arya had served as the chief of Uttarakhand Congress for a fairly long time.
KC Venugopal described Arya’s joining as “the happiest moments for the Congress party”.
“Today morning, they met honourable Rahul Gandhi and said they were very happy to rejoin their old family. Rahul ji told them in the coming days, they will help strengthen the Congress party in Uttarakhand and in the country,” Venugopal said, describing the meeting the duo had with the former Congress president.
Yashpal Arya said he was very happy to return to the Congress and wanted to serve the party without conditions .
“Today I am coming back to my family and returning home. There can’t be a day better than this. In my political life of 40 years, I have continued to work as district president, speaker, state president. I will serve Congress without any condition and will cooperate in the formation of the Congress government in the state,” Arya was quoted as saying by PTI.