Day of joinings, mergers for Congress camp

New Delhi: It was an eventful day of 'joining' and 'merger' for the Congress on Wednesday as a BSP MP and BJP MLA enrolled themselves and two former MPs merged their outfits. A sitting Lok Sabha MP who quit the party days ago over denial of ticket withdrew his resignation after central leadership's intervention.

The party held a series of press conferences to announce the joining of BJP Jharkhand MLA Jai Prakash Bhai Patel and BSP's Amroha MP Danish Ali besides mergers of Pappu Yadav’s Jan Adhikar Party and Choudhary Lal Singh’s Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party.

Yadav, whose wife Ranjeet Ranjan is a Congress Rajya Sabha MP, joining is expected to boost the party’s prospects in Seemanchal region of Bihar while Singh, who may be fielded against Union Minister Jitender Singh in Udhampur, is returning to the party after almost ten years.

Yadav, a five-term former MP, and Ali, who joined Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra launch in Manipur, are likely to be fielded in the Lok Sabha elections.

The day also saw Barperta MP Abdul Khaleque withdrawing his resignation from the party last week following denial of seat after the Assam leader had an audience with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former chief Sonia Gandhi and Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal.

Earlier this month, the party had inducted BJP MPs Rahul Kaswan (Rajasthan) and Brijendra Singh (Haryana).

Joining the party, Patel said he wants to fulfil the dreams of his father Tek Lal Mahto, a former MP. He said he was unable to find his father's ideology in the NDA and has now vowed to work to strengthen the I.N.D.I.A bloc in the state, a day after JMM's MLA Sita Soren joined the BJP.

Ali, a BSP MP from UP who is suspended by the party for supporting the Opposition bloc in Parliament, joined the Congress and is all set to fight from Amroha again.

One who started his political career with Janata Dal and moved to JD(S) when Deve Gowda started his own party, Ali had joined BSP ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections with the blessings of JD(S) supremo. He started well off in BSP with Mayawati appointing him as floor leader in Lok Sabha but was removed soon. Rahul had visited his residence after BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri showered communal slurs on him during a debate last December.

Accompanied by his son Sarthak and other party leaders as he announced his decision at the Congress headquarters, Yadav said the Congress leadership gave him respect and he was joining the party's fight against “dictatorship” in the country to help save democracy and the Constitution.

“The honour that the entire Congress family has given is enough for us. Both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have given us a lot of love. If anyone has won the hearts of people in India, it is Rahul Gandhi and people love him. He has also raised the concerns of OBCs by raising the issue of holding a caste census,” he said.

Singh, who quit Congress to join the BJP in 2014 and was a minister in PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir before quitting again, praised the leadership of Kharge and Rahul, like other joinees.

Khaleque withdrew his resignation from the party and wrote to Kharge after a meeting he had with the party chief and others.

“As a sitting Lok Sabha MP and two-time MLA, I understand the situation in the country...Strengthening Congress is the need of the hour, hence I withdraw my resignation and wish to work under your and Rahul Gandhi's able leadership,” he wrote.