Former JJP leaders Anoop Dhanak, Ram Kumar Gautam, Jogi Ram Sihag join BJP

Chandigarh, Sep 1 (PTI) Former Jannayak Janta Party leaders Anoop Dhanak, Ram Kumar Gautam and Jogi Ram Sihag, who quit the party recently, joined the BJP on Sunday giving the ruling party in Haryana a boost ahead of the October 5 Assembly poll.

The three leaders along with Ambala Mayor Shakti Rani Sharma were welcomed into the BJP fold by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, the party's state unit chief Mohan Lal Badoli and its Haryana affairs co-incharge Biplab Kumar Deb at a rally in Jind.

Sharma is the wife of Haryana Janchetna Party chief and former Union Minister Venod Sharma. Her son and Independent Rajya Sabha member Kartikeya Sharma was also present at the Jind event.

Dhanak, Gautam and Sihag were Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) MLAs when they abandoned the party.

Gautam, who was with the BJP earlier, represented the Narnaund segment in Haryana Assembly after winning the seat on a Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) ticket in 2019. He, however, did not get a ministerial berth in the BJP-JJP coalition government and was also a vocal critic of former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala on various issues.

Anoop Dhanak, a former minister, was an MLA from Uklana while Jogi Ram Sihag represented the Barwala segment in the Assembly.

Recently, Jogi Ram Sihag, Ram Niwas Surjakhera, Ram Kumar Gautam and Anoop Dhanak extended support to BJP leader Kiran Choudhry's candidature for the Rajya Sabha bypoll in Haryana. Kiran was elected unopposed to the Upper House of Parliament.

Notably, Surjakhera was also expected to join the BJP at the Jind rally but was not seen at the event. A few days ago, he was booked on the charge of rape by the Jind police based on a woman's accusations against him.

Surjakhera has dismissed the allegation as "conspiracies" against him ahead of the Assembly polls. PTI SUN NSD