Dehradun: Former Uttarakhand chief minister and veteran BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Friday found himself in controversy after describing All India Congress Committee General Secretary Harish Rawat as an “ekalva banar”, a term loosely used in the hill state for a lone, aggressive monkey.
The BJP had earlier dropped Koshyari from its list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, along with senior leaders BC Khanduri and LK Advani. Although Khanduri has distanced himself from election rallies, Nainital MP Koshyari has continued to actively campaign for party candidate and state BJP chief Ajay Bhatt. Bhatt is contesting from Nainital against Congress veteran Harish Rawat.
It was due to the “ekalva banar” that other Congress “banar” (monkeys) had left the party Congress to join the BJP in 2016, claimed Koshyari, referring to Rawat. When the Congress was in power in the state, 11 legislators had revolted against the then chief minister Rawat and joined the BJP. The Congress was then defeated in the next election, and Rawat losing from both the seats he contested.
Reacting to the comment, Congress spokesperson MD Joshi said Koshyari had himself been “left alone” by the BJP. “People know better who the ‘ekalva banar’ is,” Joshi told News18.
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