Danish Ali met Sonia Gandhi in Delhi and sought her blessings (File)
Suspended BSP leader and Lok Sabha MP Danish Ali joined the Congress today in the presence of senior party leaders.
After joining the Congress, Mr Ali said that going by the prevailing situation in the country, it is important to join the party in the fight against "divisive" forces.
"On one side are divisive forces and on the other are those fighting to get "nyay (justice)" for the poor and oppressed sections of society. The choice is very clear," Mr Ali said, asserting that the time has come to decide where one stands.
"If we have to fight divisive forces, one has to strengthen the Congress under the leadership of Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi," he said.
"The ideology with which we started our politics... we have to strengthen the forces fighting against those divisive forces. That is why I took this important decision while charting my future political journey by becoming a member of the Indian National Congress," he told reporters.
Danish Ali, the sitting MP from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh, was suspended last year by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for anti-party activities. He is set to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from the same constituency on a Congress ticket.
AICC in-charge for Uttar Pradesh Avinash Pande, who was also present at the event, welcomed Mr Ali into the party fold.
The party would benefit from Danish Ali's joining since he has been in politics since his student days, Mr Pande said. Mr Ali had also joined the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in UP and Manipur.
He was with the Janata Dal (Secular) earlier and had been the former Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka.
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