Former Union minister Birender Singh on Tuesday joined the Congress in Delhi along with his wife Prem Lata, a former Haryana legislator, a day after the couple quitting the BJP.
Pertinently, Birender's son, Brijendra Singh, who was the sitting BJP MP from Hisar, Haryana, had left the saffron party and joined Congress about a month ago. Birender Singh, 78, a prominent Jat leader and a five-time MLA, who is the maternal grandson of the farmer leader Sir Chhotu Ram, joined BJP in 2014 after his over 40-year long stint with Congress.
The couple joined the Congress in presence of party leaders Mukul Wasnik, Pawan Khera, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and state party chief Udai Bhan. Birender Singh said that he saw his return to Congress as the return of the ideology. He said they were here because they stood stronger with the people of Haryana and they also supported them.
In fact, their departure was anticipated for quite some time; they openly supported 2020 farmers protest against now-repealed farm laws and later countrys top wrestlers protest against former WFI chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over the charges of sexual harassment. Another pressing reason for their departure from the saffron party was familys bad blood with the Haryana's Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) which had entered an alliance with the BJP post-2019-assembly-election. It may be recalled that the ruling BJP dumped the JJP last month.
