COURTESY TOI MARCH 17

Khanduri’s son joins Cong, may be fielded from dad’s Pauri seat
Kautilya Singh TNN

Dehradun:

Manish Khanduri, 50, the son of five-time BJP MP from Pauri and former Uttarakhand CM Major Gen (retd) B C Khanduri, joined Congress in the presence of party chief Rahul Gandhi during the latter’s rally at Parade Ground on Saturday.

Welcoming him into the party fold, Rahul Gandhi said: “I am happy that he is sitting here on the stage and I will tell you why he is sitting here. Major Gen Khanduri was the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on defence but he was unceremoniously removed from the post by Narendra Modi. Khanduriji dedicated his life to the country and the armed forces. But when he raised an issue of national security saying the government is not doing enough for the armed forces, he was sacked. This shows that there is no place for truth in BJP,” Gandhi said.

In his speech, Manish Khanduri who is a former journalist, said he had got blessings from his father. He added that he would like to assure the party that “like my father has served the people selflessly, I will continue to do the same.”

Manish’s candidature is being considered almost final for the Pauri seat which his father has won five times. Speaking to TOI, Manish said he will be addressing a press conference in Delhi on Sunday afternoon