Lok Sabha Elections: In a jolt to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, several party leaders in Rajasthan, including former ministers Rajendra Yadav and Lal Chand Kataria, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday.
Former Congress MLAs Ricchpal Mirdha, Vijaypal Mirdha and Khiladi Bairwa, former independent MLA Alok Beniwal, former state Congress chief Seva Dal Suresh Chaudhary, Rampal Sharma and Riju Jhunjhunwala among other leaders also joined the ruling party in the state, as reported by news agency PTI. They were welcomed into the party by Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, state BJP president C P Joshi and Union minister Bhupendra Yadav.
Addressing a gathering, Kataria stated that he joined the saffron party because of his conscience. He said the BJP understands the pain and suffering of farmers, the poor and the common man, as reported by PTI. Kataria further said that It was Chief Minister Shama who worked to resolve the issue of the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project.
Hitting out at former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Bairwa said the then CM considered SC people his slaves, PTI reported.
Bairwa was the chairman of the SC Commission during the previous Congress rule. Kataria and Yadav were ministers in the previous Congress government headed by Ashok Gehlot. Kataria was also a Union minister of state in the previous UPA government.
Yadav exuded confidence in the BJP and said that the saffron party will win all 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state. When he was a minister in the Gehlot cabinet, the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax carried out searches on premises linked to him in connection with an alleged fraud in midday meals.
Ricchpal Mirdha is the uncle of former Congress MP Jyoti Mirdha, who joined the BJP ahead of the 2023 assembly elections. Jyoti Mirdha has been named as the BJP's candidate from Nagaur for the Lok Sabha elections. Vijaypal Mirdha is Ricchpal Mirdha's son.
Speaking on the occasion, Ricchpal Mirdha said former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave reservation to the Jat community, while the Modi government has made Jagdeep Dhankar, the son of a farmer, the vice president of India. There are three governors from the Jat community, he said, as reported by PTI. He further stated, "What did the Congress give us?"
Randhir Singh Bhindar, a former BJP MLA who earlier separated from the party and formed his Janta Sena outfit, also merged with the BJP. After joining the saffron party, he said that he was returning to his family. Bhindar stated that he struggled for 11 years after separating from the BJP due to certain reasons but never joined the Congress.
Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma lashed out at the Congress and said that the grand old party sought votes in the name of farmers but cheated them. He also accused the party of corruption and scams. Alok Beniwal is the son of the former governor of Gujarat Kamla Beniwal.