BC Khanduri’s son to join Congress; may contest from Pauri

New Delhi:Congress appears set for a major ‘catch’ as Manish Khanduri, son of former BJP chief minister of Uttarakhand Maj Gen (retd) BC Khanduri, is likely to join the main opposition party in the presence of Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Dehradun this weekend.

Khanduri, who is a former journalist and has worked with social media platform Facebook, is learnt to have met Gandhi recently.

Khanduri Sr is a sitting Lok Sabha member from Pauri, from where the Congress is expected to field his son this time. Khaduri Sr is reportedly unhappy with the BJP leadership of late, as there has been a controversy over his term as chairman of Standing Committee of Defence not being exten-ded. It has been alleged that this was linked to a critical report that he had prepared on the modernisation of weapons.


Incidentally, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s son Shaurya Doval is reportedly nurturing the Pauri seat for contesting during this Lok Sabha polls, and has already activated an NGO in the area. Khanduri Sr's daughter, a sitting BJP MLA, too has been a contender for the Pauri seat.

The Congress has two reasons to win over Manish Khanduri: first, the Khanduri political brand is formidable in Pauri. More importantly, Khaduri Sr, being also the nephew of the iconic leader late HN Bahuguna, could help the Congress to partly reclaim the Bahuguna legacy – a significant political factor in the hill state.