Rumours were swirling on Monday of former Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi joining the BJP ahead of the state elections due early 2017. The Congress denied that the 67-year-old Lucknow Cantonment legislator would follow her brother, former party leader and ex-Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, to the BJP. Though the Joshi camp didn’t comment, sources in the BJP said talks were on between the Congress leader and its leaders. In Delhi, senior party leader Manish Tewari said he wouldn’t comment on speculative reports. She believes she has better credentials to be projected as a Brahmin chief ministerial face than Dikshit.

Source: Hindustan Times October 17, 2016 14:48 UTC