New Delhi : The Congress leaders were upbeat on Wednesday over the season of incomings during which senior BJP, BRS and BSP functionaries joined the grand old party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
In a carefully crafted manner, a series of joinings took place on Wednesday including sitting Jharkhand BJP MLA and whip JP Patel, former MP Lal Singh, who had moved to the BJP but later floated his own outfit Dogra Swabhiman Party, Bihar leader and Jan Adhikar Party founder Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav and suspended BSP MP Kunwar Danish Ali.
Before them, sitting Haryana BJP MP Brijendra Singh, son of former MP Birender Singh, sitting BJP MP in Rajasthan Rahul Kaswan and several BRS leaders from Telangana joined the Congress recently.
Lal Singh, a two term Congress MP, is likely to get a ticket from Udhampur seat, while J&K Congress working president Raman Bhalla is likely to be fielded from Jammu seat, said party insiders, adding that Pappu Yadav may get a ticket from the Purnia seat while Danish Ali may be fielded from Amroha seat in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Kaswan has already been given a ticket from Churu seat in Rajasthan.
“Priyanka Gandhi played a role in the return of Lal Singh. More joining will take place over the coming days,” said a senior AICC functionary.
“Pappu Yadav was influenced by the Congress ideology and the merger of his party will change the politics of Bihar. He was also influenced by the Nyay guarantees of the Congress. His joining will strengthen the INDIA alliance,” AICC general secretary in charge of Bihar Mohan Prakash told this channel.
“These leaders are realizing that the social justice slogan being highlighted during the nationwide yatra of Rahul Gandhi reflects the ground reality which is far from the over 400 seats claim of the BJP,” he said.
“They have picked up the number 370 seats from Jammu and Kashmir. But if they lose the elections there, the number would become meaningless,” said Lal Singh.