After being expelled from the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) party last year, MLA Dharmjeet Singh on Sunday joined the saffron side. Singh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday ahead of the Chhattisgarh assembly polls due this year. Former Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer SSD Badgaiya also joined the BJP during a function that was held at the state BJP's headquarters in Raipur. Both became members of the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who is also BJP's joint in-charge for the Chhattisgarh assembly polls. The event was also attended by the Chhattisgarh party president Arun Sao, former chief minister Raman Singh and other senior party leaders, reported news agency PTI.
State president Sao while welcoming the new members said that people from different parties and sections of society have been joining the BJP, which clearly indicates that a "wind of change" is blowing in the state and after November, the lotus will bloom in Chhattisgarh. He added that the people of Chhattisgarh are fed up with the Congress and are now looking towards the BJP with full faith. He further said, "We (BJP) all will work together to save Chhattisgarh.”
Singh, who is a four-term MLA from the Lormi assembly seat, is considered to be a strong and popular leader in the Bilaspur division of the state. He was first elected as an MLA in the year 1998 while contesting on a Congress ticket from the Lormi seat. He subsequently won the assembly polls in the terms 2003-2008 and 2008-2013. However, he faced defeat in the 2013 election at the hands of a BJP candidate, PTI reported.
He later aligned with former chief minister Ajit Jogi, who floated his party JCC (J) in 2016 after taking an exit from the Congress. In the 2018 assembly polls, Singh won the Lormi seat on JCC (J) ticket.
JCC (J) expelled him last year in September from the party while claiming that he ignored the interests of the SC, ST and Other Backward Class communities. The party also claimed that he acted against the principles that were laid down by the party founder, the late Ajit Jogi, PTI reported.