Regretted Being In BJP, Made My Way Home To Congress, Says Kirti Azad

Cricketer-turned-politician and suspended BJP lawmaker Kirti Azad, who joined the Congress on Monday, attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making false promises and said there was no internal democracy within the BJP. He also said joining congress was his "ghar wapsi" and began "repenting being in BJP". 

Mr Azad, who represents Bihar's Darbhanga in the Lok Sabha, was formally inducted into the party in the presence of Congress President Rahul Gandhi. He was to join the Congress on February 15 but the event was postponed after the Pulwama terror attack.

A three-time lawmaker, Mr Azad was suspended from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2015 for alleging "corruption" in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at that time.

Addressing media at the Congress headquarters, Mr Azad launched a scathing attack on PM Modi and said that under the current leadership, there was no internal democracy in the BJP.

"I started repenting about being in BJP. I felt being politically orphaned and decided to make my way back to home (Congress)," son of late Congress leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Bhagwat Jha Azad said.

"The only thing I heard in the last five years was 'jumla' (false promises)," he said.

Mr Azad said that when he raised the "Rs 400 crore scam in the DDCA" with 400 pages of documents, he was "back-stabbed by the party."

"What happened to PM Modi's calls of 'na khaunga, na khane dunga' (I won't indulge in corruption nor allow anyone to do so). I realised that too was a jumla."