Col Kothiyal AAP’s Uttarakhand CM candidate, joins BJP

Colonel (retired) Ajay Kothiyal, who ran for chief minister for the Aam Aadmi Party in the Uttarakhand assembly elections in February, joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday in the presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and state party president Madan Kaushik.

Uttarakhand | AAP’s CM candidate for recently concluded Assembly elections Ajay Kothiyal joins BJP in the presence of CM Pushkar Singh Dhami in Dehradun. pic.twitter.com/ZbooDyNLei

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) May 24, 2022

On May 18, Col Kothiyal resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party.

This time, the AAP went big in Uttarakhand, fielding candidates for all 70 assembly seats and promising a plethora of incentives to entice voters.

Kothiyal joins BJP in presence of CM Pushkar Singh Dhami. pic.twitter.com/soflk1rcY4

— News Arena (@NewsArenaIndia) May 24, 2022

Despite doing well in neighboring Punjab, the party failed to win in the state.

Kothiyal, the party’s chief ministerial face, even lost his Gangotri constituency deposit. Following the AAP’s electoral defeat in Uttarakhand, Kothiyal is alleged to have been dissatisfied with the manner he was handled by the party.