Suspended BJP leader Harak Singh Rawat on Monday said he would work for the Congress, which would easily win Assembly elections and form the government in Uttarakhand where polling would be held on all 70 seats on February 14.

“I have decided to work for the Congress, which was already in a position to defeat the BJP. Although I want to become the chief minister of the state, I know that the Congress will not agree to it at the moment. However, I will work dedicatedly if ever I am assigned the job,” Rawat told reporters in Dehradun.

Rawat, who was labour minister in the Pushkar Singh Dhami government, broke down when asked about his suspension from the BJP. “Prahlad Joshi, minister for parliamentary affairs had called me to Delhi for a meeting. I was caught in traffic and couldn’t reach there in time. I read in social media even before I could reach the meeting venue that I have been suspended from the party for six years,” Rawat said.

Rawat, who has a good hold over parts of the hill state, including Pauri Garhwal and Dehradun, had engineered a split in the Congress in 2016 by joining the BJP along with nine MLAs.

“The BJP has failed to come up to the expectations of the masses and the voters are going to make Uttarakhand BJP-free. I will also work to throw the BJP out,” Rawat, who had started his political career as a BJP member in the 1980s, said.

On Rawat’s expulsion, Dhami on Monday told reporters: “Harak wanted to contest again from his Kotdwar seat and sought a ticket for his daughter-in-law (Anukriti Gusai Rawat) from Lansdowne (both are in Pauri Garhwal district). However, it is a policy decision of the party to give one ticket to only one member in a family. I myself tried to convince him but he was not ready to listen to anything.”

“We cannot promote family politics in the state at any cost. Harak has been suspended from the party because he tried to go against the party,” Dhami added.

Meanwhile, Sarita Arya, state president of Uttarakhand Mahila Congress, joined the BJP on Monday.

State BJP president Madan Kaushik inducted her into the party in Dehradun.

“Priyanka Gandhi is giving tickets to 40 per cent women candidates in Uttar Pradesh. But the Congress is not giving ticket to even 20 per cent women in Uttarakhand,” Arya told reporters.

A source in the Congress said Rawat had demanded ticket from Doiwala in Dehradun district.

“Sarita Arya wanted Congress ticket from Nainital but it was denied,” a senior Congress leader of the state said.

Arya had won from Nainital in 2012 as a Congress candidate.