New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi held an important meeting at his residence soon after former Punjab cabinet minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi resigned from the party and joined the BJP on Tuesday.
Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Chaudhary, state's screening committee chairman, Ajay Maken, and party general secretary, KC Venugopal attended the meeting.
Rana Sodhi, a sitting Congress MLA from Guru Har Sahai, and a confidant of Punjab's former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, was being dropped from the cabinet after the latter's ouster.
"Rana Gurmeet Sodhi has left Congress as the party could not give him the ticket to contest elections from where he wanted," said Harish Chaudhary.
He dismissed the rumours about more Punjab Congress leaders joining the BJP.
"No one from Congress will join any other party or BJP. In fact, many people want to join Congress," he claimed.
Harish said that no matter how hard the BJP tries, it "cannot" form its government in Punjab.
He also showed confidence that Congress is going to get more seats in the upcoming polls as compared to the previous one.
On Tuesday, Sodhi announced that he had joined BJP as he shared a picture of him along with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
"Joining @BJP4India to honour my commitment to work for Punjab & Punjabiyat. Humbled with warm welcome given by Honble HM @AmitShah Ji who is equally passionate about making Punjab the most developed state of India. Thanking the party leadership for their trust & this warm welcome," Sodhi tweeted.
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Joining @BJP4India to honour my commitment to work for Punjab & Punjabiyat. Humbled with warm welcome given by Honble HM @AmitShah Ji who is equally passionate about making Punjab the most developed state of India.Thanking the party leadership for their trust & this warm welcome. pic.twitter.com/VEzxkbDTDL
— Rana Gurmit S Sodhi (@iranasodhi) December 21, 2021 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Joining @BJP4India to honour my commitment to work for Punjab & Punjabiyat. Humbled with warm welcome given by Honble HM @AmitShah Ji who is equally passionate about making Punjab the most developed state of India.Thanking the party leadership for their trust & this warm welcome. pic.twitter.com/VEzxkbDTDL
— Rana Gurmit S Sodhi (@iranasodhi) December 21, 2021Joining @BJP4India to honour my commitment to work for Punjab & Punjabiyat. Humbled with warm welcome given by Honble HM @AmitShah Ji who is equally passionate about making Punjab the most developed state of India.Thanking the party leadership for their trust & this warm welcome. pic.twitter.com/VEzxkbDTDL
— Rana Gurmit S Sodhi (@iranasodhi) December 21, 2021
After joining the BJP, Sodhi said that he took the decision in the best interests of Punjab. "Punjab is a border state. Peace and harmony are in danger and the state government is not capable of handling it. Punjab is a small, but important state of India. Only the Prime Minister can save Punjab," Sodhi said.
Also read: Former Congress Minister in Punjab Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi joins BJP
He added that the secular image of the Congress party was demolished due to infighting in the Punjab unit and the state moving towards a bigger threat.
"Congress neither is concerned for the farmers nor for peace and harmony. Prime Minister Modi has solved the farmers' issues and will solve others as well," Sodhi said.
According to sources, the Punjab Congress campaign committee meeting will be held on Wednesday in Delhi followed by the screening committee meeting.
Punjab assembly polls are scheduled to be held in 2022.
In the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, Congress won an absolute majority in the state by winning 77 seats and ousted the SAD-BJP government after 10 years. Aam Aadmi Party emerged as the second-largest party winning 20 seats in 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly. The SAD could manage to win only 15 seats while the BJP secured 3 seats.
