Summary:
Dehradun, Jan 27 (PTI) In a setback to the Congress, former state Congress president Kishore Upadhyay on Thursday joined the BJP, days ahead of the February 14 Assembly polls in Uttarakhand.
Union Minister and the party"s election in-charge for Uttarakhand Pralhad Joshi and Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt welcomed Upadhyay into the BJP fold.
It is speculated that the BJP might field him from Tehri constituency.
Upadhyay had won the Tehri seat in 2002 and 2007.
However, in the 2012 polls, he lost to independent candidate Dinesh Dhanai by 377 votes.
In 2017, he had contested from Sahaspur in Dehradun instead of Tehri and was defeated by BJP"s Sahdev Singh Pundir.