Congress MLA Girraj Malinga Joins BJP Ahead Of Rajasthan Polls, Says Was Harassed

Congress MLA from Dholpur's Bari seat Girraj Malinga on Sunday joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and others in Jaipur.

After taking membership of the BJP, Malinga said that he was being harassed in the Congress and due to the "pressure politics" of the Chief Minister, a false case was registered against him.

A case against Mr Malinga and others was registered in March last year after two engineers were allegedly assaulted at the Bari office of the electricity department in Dholpur district. Later, he surrendered before the police commissioner in Jaipur and was subsequently arrested.

"In the engineers' assault case, an FIR was lodged by making me an accused and there was politics in that too. When I demanded to change the investigating officer regarding this matter, despite being a Congress MLA, the chief minister did not listen to me," he said.

"After seeing the policies of PM Narendra Modi and with the desire to work with the thinking of the BJP, I joined the party today," he said.

Other local Congress leaders of Dholpur, Mustaq Ahmed Khan, Ravi Pachauri, Deep Singh Kushwaha, Mangilal Sharma and Ramvaran Sharma also joined the party.

Additionally, Anurag Singh Brar, the youth wing president of the Aam Aadmi Party, also joined the BJP.

Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and the Election Management Committee convenor Narayan Panchariya welcomed them to the party.

Mr Shekhawat stated that the party's focus is on development.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)