Another blow to Congress: Two ex-Rajasthan ministers, other leaders join BJP

Ahead of Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Sunday suffered a massive jolt in Rajasthan as several of its leaders resigned from the party to join the BJP. Rajendra Yadav and Lal Chand Kataria, who served as ministers in the Ashok Gehlot government, joined the saffron party in Jaipur on Sunday. Besides these two, former Congress MLAs Ricchpal Mirdha, Vijaypal Mirdha, and Khiladi Bairwa, former independent MLA Alok Beniwal, former state Congress chief Seva Dal Suresh Chaudhary, Rampal Sharma, and Riju Jhunjhunwala also joined the ruling party in the state. 

Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, state BJP president C P Joshi, and Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav welcomed them into the party at its state headquarters. Addressing a gathering, Kataria said he joined the BJP because of his conscience. He said the BJP understands the pain and suffering of farmers, the poor, and the common man. 

Bairwa, who was the chairman of the SC Commission during the previous Congress rule, hit out at former chief minister Ashok Gehlot. "The then-CM considered SC people his slaves," he alleged. Kataria and Yadav were ministers in the previous Congress government headed by Ashok Gehlot. 

Kataria was also a Union minister of state in the previous UPA government. Yadav said the BJP will sweep the parliamentary elections and win all 25 seats in the state. When he was a minister in the Gehlot cabinet, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax carried out searches on premises linked to him in connection with an alleged fraud in midday meals. 

Ricchpal Mirdha is the uncle of former Congress MP Jyoti Mirdha, who joined the BJP ahead of the 2023 assembly elections. Jyoti Mirdha has been named as the BJP's candidate from Nagaur for the Lok Sabha elections. Vijaypal Mirdha is Ricchpal Mirdha's son. 

After joining the BJP, Ricchpal Mirdha said former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave reservation to the Jat community, while the Modi government has made Jagdeep Dhankar, the son of a farmer, the vice president of India. There are three governors from the Jat community, he said, adding "What did the Congress give us?" 

The Mirdha family is considered politically influential in the Jat-dominated Nagaur and nearby areas. Apart from them, Randhir Singh Bhindar, a former BJP MLA who earlier separated from the party and formed his Janta Sena outfit, also merged with the BJP. Bhindar said he struggled for 11 years after separating from the BJP due to certain reasons but never joined the Congress. He added that he was returning to his family. 

(With inputs from PTI)