Ex-Congress Leaders Get Plum Roles In BJP, Amarinder In Nat'l Executive, Shergill New Spokesperson

Rana Gurmeet Sodhi, Manoranjan Kalia and Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia have been made special invitees to the National Executive.

Former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh at BJP headquarters after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, in New Delhi.

Source : File Photo/PTI

New Delhi: Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and former MP Sunil Jakhar have been appointed as members of the BJP's National Executive, reported news agency ANI. On the other hand, Rana Gurmeet Sodhi, Manoranjan Kalia and Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia have been made special invitees to the National Executive. Former Congress leader Jaiveer Shergill has been appointed as the national spokesperson.

Former Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh and former MP Sunil Jakhar appointed as members of the National Executive: BJP pic.twitter.com/T4QsJpkx9d

— ANI (@ANI) December 2, 2022

Meanwhile, Shergill reacted on Twitter saying, "I express my heartfelt gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah for appointing me as the national spokesperson of the world's largest party."

मैं देश के यशस्वी प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi जी, भाजपा @BJP4India के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष श्री @JPNadda जी एवं गृह मंत्री श्री @AmitShah जी का मुझे विश्व की सबसे बड़ी पार्टी का राष्ट्रीय प्रवक्ता नियुक्त करने पर हार्दिक आभार व्यक्त करता हूँ | 🙏 pic.twitter.com/CLqJPy0W2a

— Jaiveer Shergill (@JaiveerShergill) December 2, 2022

The 39-year-old Jaiveer is a lawyer by profession in the Supreme Court of India and as a spokesperson of the Congress, he has been presenting the party's side in debates on TV channels. He has been one of the youngest spokespersons of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and has the youngest person to be appointed as the Co-Chairman of the Congress Legal Cell for Punjab. He has also served as the Young India Representative for the International Bar Association for a period of two years 2008-09.

On September 19, ten months following his unceremonious exit from the Congress, Amarinder Singh joined the BJP in New Delhi in the presence of Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Kiren Rijiju, BJP leader Sunil Jakhar and BJP Punjab chief Ashwani Sharma.

The 80-year-old veteran politician, who quit the Congress in November last year amid a bitter power tussle with then Punjab Congress chief Navjot Sidhu, also merged his newly formed Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) with the BJP.

Former Congress leader and deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly Ajaib Singh Bhatti also joined BJP. In all, seven former MLAs and one former MP joined the BJP along with Amarinder Singh.

Singh formed the Punjab Lok Congress party last year just ahead of the Punjab assembly election. However, his party failed to win any seat in the polls, which was won by the Aam Aadmi Party. Singh himself lost from his home turf of Patiala Urban to AAP's greenhorn Ajit Pal Kohli by over 13,000 votes.