New Delhi: The opportunists have left the party, AICC in charge of Punjab Chetan Chauhan said on Saturday shortly after four former ministers joined the BJP.
“It is good riddance. The opportunists have been exposed and they have left the party. The Congress gave them everything but they ditched the party,” said the AICC secretary in-charge of Punjab.
The Congress leader’s comments came after four former ministers Raj Kumar Verka, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Sunder Sham Arora, and Gurpreet Singh Kangar joined the BJP in Chandigarh. Former Congress MLA from Barnala Kewal Dhillon and former SAD MLAs Sarup Chand Singla and Mohinder Kaur Josh also joined the BJP.
Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, who had left the grand old party to join the BJP recently while the Congress 'Chintan Shivir' was going on in Udaipur, was behind the move, which was being dubbed as a major setback for the Congress in the political circles.
However, Chauhan contested that opinion. “Their exit will not affect the party. The Congress will emerge stronger as younger leaders committed to the party ideology will come to the fore,” he said.
The AICC secretary refused to comment on the circumstances and infighting that led to the exit of Sunil Jakhar but said that the former Punjab unit chief was trying to prove his worth before the BJP leadership, which lacked a base in the northern state and had been forced to import leaders from the Congress.
Also read: Four senior Punjab Congress leaders join BJP
New Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who was also a minister in the Amarinder Singh cabinet, termed the four former ministers joining the saffron party as “political asylum.”
“They owe their current stature that qualified them for a new political asylum to the Congress, which groomed them like a mother grooms her children. And when it was their turn to reciprocate, they betrayed their mother for greener, nay saffron, pastures,” said Warring.
In a sarcastic tone, Warring wished the seniors well and said their move has paved the way for younger leaders. “Best of luck for joining BJP. Grateful that the ‘elite’ who enjoyed all the privileges in the party have vacated the space for younger leadership from a common background.”
Congress leader Kuljeet Singh Nagra, who was a minister in the cabinet of former chief minister Amarinder Singh, said those who left the Congress on Saturday must have been involved in corruption during their tenures in the government and had been forced to join the BJP to save themselves.
“I am sure that former chief minister Amarinder Singh must have been aware of their wrongdoing but kept silent till he was in power,” said Nagra. The shocker for the Congress came on a day the party held its mini 'Chintan Shivir' in Chandigarh to discuss the future roadmap on the lines of the Udaipur Declaration.
