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25 rebel BJP MLAs meet Rajnath

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: A group of 25 dissident Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs from Uttarakhand met party president Rajnath Singh here on Sunday to complain of the “high-handed” behaviour of Chief Minister B. C. Khanduri, said sources in the party.

The meeting between Mr. Singh and the dissidents, who form the majority of the party MLAs in the State, comes a day after Gen. (Retd.) Khanduri met senior BJP leader L. K. Advani on Saturday and briefed him about the political developments in the State, said sources close to the Chief Minister.

An attempt by the dissident MLAs to seek an appointment with Mr. Advani was turned down, they claimed.

The former Chief Minister, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, is leading the dissidents, who include four Ministers. In their meeting with Mr. Singh, they reportedly complained that Gen. Khanduri’s “isolationist” stand was costing the party politically and gave the example of the recent Lok Sabha by-election, where the party triumphed over the Congress by a narrow margin.

The dissidents also alleged that Gen. Khanduri, then a Lok Sabha MP from Uttarakhand, was made the Chief Minister by Mr. Advani overlooking the claim of Mr. Koshiyari “who had toiled for the party.”

The sources close to the Chief Minister maintained that some of the MLAs were irked because he ended the “lal batti” (red light) culture of the previous government under which a large number of people were accorded the status of Minister of State along with accompanying perks, including a red beacon on the car.

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