Four-time Congress MLA and prominent Dalit leader Raj Kumar Chauhan joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday, a day before the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi.

Chauhan, a former minister in Sheila Dikshit-led Delhi government, criticised the Congress for denying him a ticket in the current elections and said that Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit was “too old” to lead the state unit.

“She is old and has become forgetful,” he said, while joining the BJP in the presence of senior party leaders, including Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari and Union minister Vijay Goel. “No other political party has a state chief who doesn’t know what appeal to make before the elections. She asks her team before saying anything.”

His name had been finalised by the Congress’s central election committee in the first list of candidates, but was later replaced with Delhi Congress working president Rajesh Lilothia.

“There is a new trend in the Congress where people at the lower level are deciding on tickets. My name was replaced. My supporters are very angry,” said Chauhan. Besides Chauhan, two Congress councillors — Raj Prakash and Rajendra Bagri— along with Congress members from North West Delhi joined the BJP.

Last month, Udit Raj, a Dalit leader who had joined the BJP just before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, had left the BJP in anger after he was denied a ticket from the reserved constituency. Raj had alleged that the BJP was an “anti-Dalit party”.

BJP leaders said, Chauhan’s joining has come as boost to the party, which has fielded sufi singer Hans Raj Hans from the North West Delhi parliamentary constituency. “It will help us in a big way. He has been with the Congress for very long. Now people from other political parties are joining us as they have realised that the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are sinking ships,” said Goel.

Sheila Dikshit was not available for the comment. All India Congress Committee (AICC) Delhi in-charge PC Chacko said, “Our screening of candidates is done solely on their popularity and winnability and in the process several names are considered. But to leave a party just because you did not get a ticket in an election is shallow. I don’t want to say anything more.”

A statement issued by the Delhi Congress read, “There were leaders from the Congress who had left us and went to join the BJP but after a brief stint, they came back to the Congress.”

First Published: May 12, 2019 04:05 IST