Former cricketer Dinesh Mongia joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday at an event in Delhi, along with Fatehjung Singh Bajwa and Balwinder Singh Laddi, two Punjab Congress lawmakers, months ahead of state assembly polls early next year.
Mongia said he wanted to serve the people of Punjab by joining the BJP, which is working for the development of the country.
Welcoming the leaders, water resources minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who is BJP’s election strategist in Punjab, said people from the Congress are joining his party because they are upset with infighting. “They have shown faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership,” he said.
The latest desertions from the Congress comes a day after the BJP said it will contest the Punjab polls in alliance with former chief minister Amarinder Singh’s newly-formed Punjab Lok Congress party and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt).
The allies have decided to form a six-member panel to finalise seat-sharing arrangements.
Last week, Punjab leader and former minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi ended his four-decade long association with the Congress and joined the BJP. Sodhi cited infighting in the party as one of the reasons behind his decision.
