5 Congress and 2 Akali leaders joined BJP in Punjab today
In a setback to the Congress in Punjab, four of its leaders and former ministers Raj Kumar Verka, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Sunder Sham Arora and Gurpreet Singh Kangar joined the BJP today. Former Congress MLA from Barnala, Kewal Dhillon, and former Shiromani Akali Dal MLAs Sarup Chand Singla and Mohinder Kaur Josh, too, joined the BJP.
Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Som Parkash, state unit chief Ashwani Sharma, and senior party leaders Dushyant Gautam, Tarun Chugh, Sunil Jakhar and Manjinder Singh Sirsa welcomed them.
Balbir Sidhu, a three-time MLA from Mohali, was the Health Minister in the previous Congress government while Gurpreet Kangar, who is also a three-time MLA from Rampura Phul, was the Revenue Minister.
Mr Verka, a prominent Dalit leader from Majha region, is a three-time legislator and was the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment and Minorities in the previous government.
Sunder Sham Arora, a former MLA from Hoshiarpur, was the Industry and Commerce Minister in the previous Congress government.
All the four leaders lost the 2022 state assembly polls.
Home Minister Amit Shah came to Chandigarh today, where met state party leaders. He then went to Haryana's Panchkula and inaugurated the Khelo India Youth Games.
Former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who left the Congress and formed his own party, has held the Gandhis responsible for the rout of the party in the assembly elections earlier this year. Amarinder Singh had said the Congress was "comfortably placed" in Punjab before he was unseated as Chief Minister.
After his ouster as last year, Amarinder Singh left the Congress and floated his own outfit, Punjab Lok Congress.
He has slammed the Congress Working Committee for trying to put the blame for the defeat in Punjab on him instead of "gracefully admitting" their "own blunders".
With inputs from PTI