Party for turncoats

Dozens of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers, or so they claimed, protested at the party headquarters at 11, Ashoka Road, against the “insult” meted out to “faithful” workers by the party leadership in allotting tickets to “outsiders”. The BJP has selected several turncoats to contest on its symbol in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Goa. The protest coincided with Congress leader N D Tiwari and his son joining the party. Now, with the exception of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, all former state chief ministers — B C Khanduri, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Ramesh Pokhriyal, Vijay Bahuguna and now, N D Tiwari — are in the BJP. The first chief minister of the state was Nityanand Swami, of the BJP, who passed away in 2012. However, by evening and after being ridiculed on social media, BJP sources claimed that only Tiwari’s son, Rohit Shekhar, had joined the party. Tiwari senior, they said, would support the party “from outside” in the elections ahead.