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Former Rajasthan BJP MLA Manvendra Singh during a press conference after joining Congress party, in New Delhi, Wed., Oct. 17[/caption]
New Delhi, Oct. 17 (IANS): In a big boost to the Congress ahead of Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Manvendra Singh, son of former Union Minister and one of the founders of the BJP, Jaswant Singh, joined the Congress on Wednesday.
Singh had a meeting with Congress President Rahul Gandhi in the morning and the announcement of his induction into the party was made at a press conference later by General Secretary Ashok Gehlot, a former Chief Minister of Rajasthan, and other leaders, including Rajasthan Pradesh Congress chief Sachin Pilot.
An MLA from Sheo in Barmer, he quit the Bharatiya Janata Party in September, upset over the sidelining of his father in the party ever since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in which he was not given a party ticket. Jaswant Singh, a Rajput leader, has faded away from public life after he went into a coma a few years ago.
With Singh’s induction the Congress is hoping to garner Rajput votes in the assembly elections. At the press conference, it was also announced that former Maharashtra BJP MLA Ashish Deshmukh, who represented Katol Assembly in the Vidarbha region, has joined the party.
He had stepped down as an MLA earlier in the month over the Rafale jet deal.
Speaking to the media, Singh, a former Lok Sabha member, said he joined the Congress over the persistent targeting by the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP in Rajasthan. He said the problem began in 2014 when the BJP denied his father Jaswant Singh a party ticket in the Lok Sabha polls.
“We have been consistently targeted by Chief Minister Raje and the BJP. Joining the Congress was not a personal decision, rather a decision of the masses who want to teach the BJP government a lesson,” Singh told the media here.
Voting to elect the new assembly in Rajasthan would be held on December 7 and the counting of votes would take place on December 11.
