Rajasthan Assembly elections: MP Harish Meena joins Congress; big jolt for BJP

Ahead of the Rajasthan Assembly elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received a big jolt as the party MP from Dausa, Harish Meena joined Congress on Wednesday.

Harish Meena was welcomed to the party by State Congress chief Sachin pilot and former chief minister of the state, Ashok Gehlot. Both of them have decided to contest the state assembly elections scheduled to be held on December 7.

BJP MP from Rajasthan’s Dausa Harish Meena has joined the Congress Party in the presence of party leaders Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, in Delhi pic.twitter.com/aiaePYmNnM

— ANI (@ANI) November 14, 2018

“Both, I and Sachin Pilot will fight the Rajasthan assembly elections,” said Ashok Gehlot at the event.

Both, I and Sachin Pilot will fight the Rajasthan assembly elections: Congress leader Ashok Gehlot in Delhi pic.twitter.com/C4uCxDS2ct

— ANI (@ANI) November 14, 2018

However, Harish Meena had joined the BJP in 2014. He is a retired IPS officer who last served as the Director General of Police of Rajasthan from March 2009 to December 2013, longest tenure of a DGP in the state and a recipient of the Indian Police Medal and President Medal.

The inter-party movement just before the general election has become pretty much rampant across the various political parties of the country. In the month of October this, veteran BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s son and ex-MLA Manvendra Singh joined the Congress. In 2013 assembly elections, Manvendra Singh had who won Barmer’s Sheo constituency as the BJP candidate in 2013 assembly elections.

At a recently held rally in September, he had announced that he would be leaving the BJP. He further said ‘Kamal ka Phool Badi Bhool’. He also claimed that the with the BJP’s election symbol, the lotus, was a “big mistake”.

While welcoming Manvendra Singh into the party, Sachin Pilot said that it will strengthen the party further. He also said, “There is a long list of leaders quitting the BJP and the party should introspect why this is happening.”

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