Congress leader RPN Singh on Tuesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of the saffron party's Uttar Pradesh in-charge and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Singh is the second big exit from the Congress in Uttar Pradesh after Jitin Prasada quit it last year. Prasada joined the BJP and later became a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.
"This is a new beginning for me and I look forward to my contribution to nation building under the visionary leadership & guidance of the Honourable Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi, BJP president Shri @JPNadda ji & Honourable Home Minister @AmitShah ji," Singh, a former Union minister, had tweeted before his joining.
Besides Pradhan, Jyotiraditya Scindia, who quit the Congress to join the BJP and is a Union minister, was also present for Singh's joining in ceremony.
Singh was also the in-charge for Jharkhand affairs of the Congress, where the party is in power along with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
He has earlier represented the Padrauna assembly constituency and had defeated Swami Prasad Maurya from Kushinagar in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Singh was on Monday included in the Congress list of 30 star campaigners for the first phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh.