Rudrapur: The defection of senior Congress leader and Uttarakhand Cabinet minister Yashpal Arya to the BJP has dealt a severe blow to the ruling Congress in Udham Singh Nagar district.After the Arya’s desertion, the ruling party has no MLA left in the politically-vital district, which has nine assembly seats.Arya is an MLA from Bazpur assembly of district US Nagar.During the March 2016 political turmoil, two Congress legislators -- Sitarganj MLA and former CM Vijay Bahuguna and Jaspur MLA Shailendra Mohan Singhal-- had switched to BJP. It had left Congress with only one party MLA in the Udham Singh Nagar.Arya is the 11th Congress legislator to leave the party in less than a year, after nine party MLAs raised the flag of rebellion under Bahuguna and Harak Singh in March last year. Another legislator Rekha Arya had also quit the party.General secretary of Uttarakhand Congress, Harish Paneru, told TOI: “Arya was upset with the party for not giving ticket to his son to contest Nainital (SC) reserved seat, which is held byCongress MLA Sarita Arya.”“Congress is strictly against nepotism in distributing the tickets. Arya is a turncoat and a backstabber and he can never be loyal to anyone,” said Paneru.Reacting to the development, Congress president of Rudrapur, Jagdish Taneja, said: “Congress gave identity, position and respect to Arya. This is a perfect example of opportunism.”Arya, the legislator from the Bajpur (SC) reserved seat, who was also party’s Dalit face, switched over to the BJP along with his son Sanjeev Arya on Monday at BJP National president Amit Shah’s residence.

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