National
Battle For Rajasthan : Jolt For BJP, Jaswant Singh’s Son Manvendra Singh Joins Congress
Picture Courtesy : Zee News
Rebel Rajasthan BJP MLA Manvendra Singh, who is the son of former foreign minister Jaswant Singh in the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, joined the Congress ahead of assembly elections in the state.
Singh met Congress president Rahul Gandhi before joining the party in the presence of leaders, including Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot, Avinash Pande and Randeep Surjewala.
The party announced the move at a press conference.
Congress leaders believe his joining the party will help bring in Rajput votes in the assembly polls.
Singh (54), who won Barmer’s Sheo constituency as the BJP candidate in 2013 assembly elections, had announced at a rally last month that he is leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party. “Kamal ka Phool Badi Bhool’, he had said then, claiming that going with the BJP’s election symbol, the lotus, was a “big mistake”.
Congress leaders claimed his move will help bring Rajput votes to the party-fold while the BJP said the MLA’s “politically wrong decision” will have no impact on the ruling party.