Via PTI
CHANDIGARH: In a significant setback to the Congress in Punjab, 4 of its leaders and previous ministers Raj Kumar Verka, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Sunder Sham Arora and Gurpreet Singh Kangar joined the BJP right here on Saturday.
Former Congress MLA from Barnala, Kewal Dhillon, and previous SAD MLAs Sarup Chand Singla and Mohinder Kaur Josh additionally joined the BJP.
They joined the BJP within the presence of Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Som Parkash, state unit leader Ashwani Sharma, and senior celebration leaders Dushyant Gautam, Tarun Chugh, Sunil Jakhar and Manjinder Singh Sirsa.
Union House Minister Amit Shah used to be additionally in Chandigarh on Saturday for a gathering with celebration leaders and inaugurating the Khelo India Early life Video games in Haryana’s Panchkula.
In the meantime, the Punjab Congress leader Amrinder Singh Raja Warring stated those leaders betrayed the celebration.
Balbir Sidhu, a three-time MLA from Mohali, used to be the well being minister within the earlier Congress govt, whilst Gurpreet Kangar, a three-time MLA from Rampura Phul, used to be the earnings minister.
Verka, a distinguished Dalit chief from the Majha area, may be a three-time legislator and used to be the minister for social justice and and empowerment and minorities within the earlier govt.
Sunder Sham Arora, a former MLA from Hoshiarpur, used to be the trade and trade minister within the earlier Congress govt.
Balbir Sidhu’s brother Amarjit Singh Sidhu, who’s the mayor of Mohali company, additionally joined the BJP.
Balbir Sidhu, Sunder Sham Arora and Gurpreet Kangar have been dropped from the ministries after the Congress changed Amarinder Singh with Charanjit Singh Channi as the executive minister ultimate yr.
The induction of 4 senior leaders of the Punjab Congress into the BJP is being noticed as a large achieve for the saffron celebration which is increasing its presence within the state.
Verka is a Dalit face whilst Kangar and Sidhu are Jat leaders and Arora is a Hindu face.
After Sunil Jakhar left the Congress and joined the saffron celebration, it used to be speculated that extra leaders would surrender the grand outdated celebration.
Reacting to the improvement, Punjab Congress leader Warring stated all the ones leaders who abandoned the celebration and joined the BJP had “betrayed” the Congress “like an ungrateful son deserts his mom”.
“Scared, they it appears sought after secure, protected political asylum, someplace and the BJP equipped it”, Warring stated.
“They owe their present stature, that certified them for the brand new political asylum to Indian Nationwide Congress, which groomed them like a mom grooms her kids,” he stated.
“And when it used to be their flip to reciprocate, they betrayed their mom for greener, nay, saffron pastures,” he alleged.
The PCC president stated whilst the lack of any chief or a employee is felt by means of the celebration, on the similar time it results in extra openings and alternatives for the dependable and contemporary blood whose development another way will get blocked.
Warring stated, “best possible of good fortune for becoming a member of the BJP thankful that the elite who loved the entire privileges within the celebration have vacated the gap for more youthful management from not unusual background.”
He identified that lots of the leaders who abandoned the celebration had were given the entire privileges, with their sons and brothers occupying all prestigious and robust positions at the price of different dependable and hardworking leaders and staff.
Alleging that those leaders have been gripped by means of some concern for causes “no longer publicly unknown”, he stated, “hope you all now really feel secure and protected for your new saffron pastures as you have been obsessively stressed out and scared for the explanations best possible recognized to you and no longer publicly unknown, both.”
