Congress leaders join BJP as ruling party faces rare defection of MP from Haryana

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has rolled out the red carpet for political leaders and eminent personalities who want to be part of its “Ab Ki Baar 400 Paar” mission of winning over 400 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

These individuals are expected to shore up the party’s chances at the hustings and lend support in places where it is yet to get a toehold.

Entry and exit

The list of joinees is long and includes political opponents, some of whom have held positions of power. Over the weekend, the party welcomed former Congress ministers from Rajasthan, Rajendra Yadav, Lal Chand Kataria and Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, who has been fielded from Basnwara. Senior Congressman and former minister from Madhya Pradesh Suresh Pachouri also switched sides to the BJP.

In Uttarakhand, Manish Khanduri, son of former chief minister BC Khanduri, quit the Congress to join the BJP. His sister Ritu Khanduri is the assembly Speaker.

On Sunday, BJP’s member of Parliament (MP) from Haryana’s Hisar Brijendra Singh quit the party citing “political and ideological differences” and joined the Congress. Son of former Union minister Birender Singh, the former bureaucrat joined the BJP in 2019.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Singh wrote: “I have resigned from the primary membership of the BJP due to compelling political reasons. I extend gratitude to the party, national president JP Nadda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Amit Shah for giving me the opportunity to serve as the Member of Parliament for Hisar.”

Singh said he disagreed with the policies of the government, vis-a-vis farmers, the Agniveers, and how it handled the allegations of female wrestlers against BJP lawmaker Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. He was also unhappy with the BJP’s alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) in Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls. The JJP is part of Haryana’s coalition government.

Motormouths

At his last meeting with his council of ministers on March 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi instructed his ministerial colleagues and party members to refrain from making controversial speeches and speaking out of turn. Yet, barely a week later, the BJP was forced to distance itself from controversial Karnataka MP Anantkumar Hegde’s comments. The MP, who has in the past stoked controversies with his utterances, embarrassed the party by claiming the Constitution can be amended.

“You all must help the BJP to win over 400 seats. Why does the BJP need 400-plus seats? Congress leaders in the past made changes to the Constitution and made it in a way that it does not put Hinduism in front,” Hegde said. “We need to change it and save our religion. We already have a two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha, and we do not have that in Rajya Sabha to amend the constitution… 400-plus numbers will help us achieve that.”

BJP leadership called the statement personal and said it was not the party’s view. The Opposition accused the BJP of a “hidden and devious” agenda of “re-writing and destroying” the Constitution.