Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad with Haryana PCC chief Kumari Selja and CLP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda at a press conference in New Delhi on Sunday. (Express photo by Prem Nath Pandey)IN A shot in the arm for the Congress, several leaders of the INLD, including its former Haryana unit president Ashok Arora, on Sunday joined the party. Former Union minister and three-time Lok Sabha MP Jai Parkash also joined the Congress.
Parkash, a former Congress leader, is now an Independent MLA. Welcoming them along with former state minister and INLD leader Subhash Goyal and former INLD MLA Pradeep Chaudhary, AICC general secretary in charge of Haryana Ghulam Nabi Azad said their joining reflects a growing thinking among leaders of regional parties that the Congress alone can fight and defeat the BJP.
He said most of the regional parties have either weakened or are on the verge of extinction. Flanked by Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja and CLP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Azad said, “Those who joined the Congress today have realised that time has come to strengthen the Congress so that the BJP can be defeated.”
Arora, a former state minister and Speaker, was president of the Haryana unit of the INLD for 15 years.
