Jaswant Singh son and BJP MLA Manvendra Singh joined Congress Wednesday (File Photo)
Former BJP MLA Manvendra Singh, who recently joined Congress, said Thursday that the people of Rajasthan will take revenge on his former party for insulting Rajput leader and former Union minister Jaswant Singh. “The people of Rajasthan, especially from Barmer, Jalaur, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur will take revenge for that insult caused to “my father Jaswant Singh when he was denied the party ticket and was expelled,” Singh was quoted as saying by PTI.
Rajasthan goes to polls on December 7 and the results will be out on December 11.
BJP veteran Jaswant Singh was denied the party ticket in 2014 Lok Sabha elections but he contested as an Independent from Barmer and lost. He was later expelled from the BJP for contesting the election against the party’s official candidate.
Singh, who was a Lok Sabha MP in 2004, was elected an MLA from Sheo Assembly seat on a BJP ticket in 2013. His rift with the BJP began within months after his father was denied a ticket by the party.
On Wednesday, he joined Congress ahead of crucial elections in the state. While Congress leaders asserted that the move will help bring Rajput votes to the party in the upcoming assembly elections, Rajasthan minister and BJP leader Rajendra Rathore said Singh’s exit will have “no effect in Barmer-Jaisalmer belt”.
Singh expressed confidence in the leadership of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and said “It was not easy for me to quit the BJP as it was my family. But, when I was not heard within the family and a friend (Rahul) heard me, it was then that I took the step,” adding that his decision to leave the party has “Atal ji’s blessings.”
“After Atal ji left, values in the BJP have also gone and that old traditional values are no longer there in the BJP. I feel, the decision taken by me has Atal ji’s blessings,” PTI quoted him as saying.
With elections around the corner, the Congress is seeking to oust the BJP government in the state, which has the tradition of electing an alternative government in every election in the past few decades.
(With inputs from PTI)