Lt Gen Rawat joins BJP, resigns assembly membership

New Delhi, June 8 (UNI) Former Uttarakhand minister and Congress leader Lt Gen (retd) T P S Rawat today joined BJP, giving up his assembly seat, even as rumours are agog that he has vacated his seat to facilitate entry of Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri into the state assembly.

Lt Gen Rawat whose resignation from the membership of Dhumkot constituency wab received by the Uttarakhand Speaker Harbans Kapoor said that he wanted to join the BJP because as an ex-army man, he would be comfortable in the party had ''large number of patriots believing in nationalism.'' BJP President Rajnath Singh, Maj gen Khanduri, senior BJP leader from Uttarakhand Bhagat Singh Koshiari, BJP Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Uttarkhand Prabhari Ravi Shankar Prasad were among those who welcomed Gen Rawat into the party.

BJP sources say Chief Minister Khanduri will be contesting from Dhumkot while Gen Rawat will be fielded as BJP nominee from Pauri Lok Sabha seat currently held by the CM.

Mr Singh, welcoming Gen Rawat into the party said as Execise Minister in the previous Congress government he had performed exceedingly well and his party had accepted the good work done by him.

UNI