Uttarakhand assembly elections: BJP MLA Rajkumar Thukral quits party after denied ticket, likely to contest independently

RUDRAPUR: Denied party ticket this election, BJP’s sitting MLA from Rudrapur assembly constituency of Uttarakhand,

Rajkumar Thukral

, announced to quit the party on Thursday. Subsequently, he tendered his resignation to the BJP state president,

Madan Kaushik

.

Thukral is likely to contest the elections independently. Hundreds of BJP workers gathered at his house in Adarsh Colony of the city and expressed their dissidence over the ticket distribution.

Thukral’s name did not figure in the list of candidates released by the BJP on Wednesday night for assembly elections proposed on February 14 in the state. He was replaced by BJP district president Shiv Arora.

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Thukral is a two-time legislator from Rudrapur. He was given the party ticket in 2012 and defeated former Congress minister

Tilak Raj Behar

. In 2017, again both the leaders had a head-on contest where Thukral retained his seat. But this time, Thukral was denied the assembly ticket as BJP declared candidates for nine assembly seats in its latest list.

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Thukral sent a letter to the BJP state president, communicating his resignation as a primary member of the party. The letter was posted on several social media platforms as well.

Talking to TOI, Thukral said, "I have been a dedicated worker of the party for the past four decades. Some functionaries of the party hatched a conspiracy against me and succeeded in getting my ticket for the poll fray cancelled. I will not join any political party but in all honesty, my supporters have persuaded me to contest independently. I have one day left for nomination. I will do as my well-wishers ask me to."

Thukral, who has a knack for sparking controversies, was recently in news for four audios that went viral on social media. In these audios, he allegedly could be heard hurling abuses on the Hindu community. The other audios had derogatory remarks for education minister Arvind Pandey, BJP state chief Madan Kaushik and Kiccha legislator

Rajesh Shukla

. It is speculated that these audios made a decisive impact on the distribution of the ticket.

However, Thukral always refuted the charges and claimed that the audios were doctored. He wrote a letter to BJP national president JP Nadda, seeking forensic tests of the same and also filed a complaint with the city police to prove the matter, alleging that the audios were morphed to malign his image.

Meanwhile, a senior RSS leader, who wished not to be named, said, “The party changed the candidate after a lot of thinking. Thukral will be pacified and he will be given bigger responsibility in the party."

Notably, the saffron party has denied tickets to two other sitting MLAs too, namely Deshraj Karnwal and

Naveen Dumka

.



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