Father served BJP with honesty, but removed from imp posts: Manish Khanduri

Manish Khanduri, former Uttarakhand chief minister B C Khanduri's son and the Congress candidate from Garhwal, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday of not being fair with his father.

"My father served the BJP with total honesty, but he was removed from important positions by the party towards the fag end of his career. He (Khanduri) is my father and I have his blessings. My fight is ideological," Manish Khanduri, who will file his nominations in Pauri on Monday, said here.

In his first interaction with the media after joining the Congress at party chief Rahul Gandhi's rally in Dehradun recently, Manish Khanduri described the BJP as an "one-man show" and alleged that the saffron party had not been fair with his father.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi had also raised the issue of the senior Khanduri's sudden removal as chairman of the parliamentary committee on defence, citing it as the reason behind Manish Khandhuri joining the grand old party.

Manish Khnaduri also said migration from the hills and unemployment were the major problems in Garhwal and he would try to solve them if elected.

Evading a direct reply to a question about his prospects in the upcoming polls, Manish Khanduri said apart from his father's blessings, he also had the blessings of S S Negi, who had defeated his father in the 2012 assembly election.

The poll battle in the Garhwal seat will be interesting with Manish Khanduri pitted against his father's political disciple and BJP secretary Tirath Singh Rawat.