Will fight factionalism in BJP: Shah

This was Shah’s first visit to the state after he was made BJP president. In the recent bypolls in the state, the party had failed to retain the two Assembly seats which were vacated by its leaders — former CM Ramesh Chandra Pokhriyal Nishank and Ajay Tamta — after their victory in the Lok Sabha elections from Hardwar and Almora seats, respectively.

Shah also told party workers that a scheme for the protection of cows is under consideration of the Modi government. He, however, could not give any concrete reply to the demand of one of the workers for developing Hardwar on the lines of Varanasi, represented by Prime Minister Modi.

Shah also inaugurated a residential campus at Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogapeeth where he expressed his gratitude to the yoga guru for his “yatra” across the country before the LS polls. Referring to the constitution of an SIT on the Supreme Court directive for bringing back black money, he assured that the Union government would make all efforts to fulfil “Ramdev’s dream”.