Punjab Congress on Saturday suffered a jolt after five senior party leaders including four former ministers left the Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in Chandigarh.
The former ministers who joined the BJP include — Balbir Singh Sidhu, Sunder Sham Arora, Raj Kumar Verka and Gurpreet Singh Kangar. Besides, former Congress MLA from Barnala Kewal Dhillon also joined the BJP.
Mr. Balbir Sidhu was the health minister in the previous Congress government, while Sunder Sham Arora was the industry and commerce minister. Gurpreet Kangar held the position of the revenue minister while Mr. Verka was the minister for social justice and empowerment and minorities in the previous government.
They joined the BJP in the presence of Punjab Party Affairs Incharge Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, State BJP President Ashwani Sharma and Senior leader Tarun Chugh and Sunil Jakhar.
A few other former MLAs of Shiromani Akali Dal also joined the BJP. Those who joined the saffron party include SAD MLAs Sarup Chand Singla and Mohinder Kaur Josh. Another former Congress MLA Amrik Dhilon also joined the BJP.
Taking a dig at the Congress leaders, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said all those leaders who had deserted the party and joined the BJP had betrayed the Congress like an ungrateful son deserts his mother. “Scared, they apparently wanted safe, secure political asylum, somewhere and the BJP provided it”, Warring remarked.
“They owe their current stature, that qualified them for the new political asylum to Indian National Congress, which groomed them like a mother grooms her children”, he said in a statement, adding, “and when it was their turn to reciprocate, they betrayed their mother for greener, nay, saffron, pastures”.
