Former Congress leader CR Kesavan, who is the great-grandson of India’s first Governor-General C Rajagopalachari, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi on April 8.
Speaking to the media about his decision to switch parties, CR Kesavan said: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi's transformative leadership has inspired everyone in the country. You see progress everywhere...We believe in the leadership of PM Modi and he will take us on the right path.”
Kesavan also praised the prime minister’s “people-centric policies, corruption-free governance and reform-led inclusive development agenda”, which, he said, contributed to transforming India from a “fragile economy to the fifth largest economy in the world”.
Thanking the saffron party for inducting him, he said: “I wish to thank the BJP for having inducted me into the world's largest political party, and, that too, on a day when our PM is scheduled to visit Tamil Nadu.”
The former Congress leader also lauded the BJP government for implementing schemes such as the PM Awas Yojana, under which three crore houses have been built. Kesavan said: “I know people in my house who got pucca house through PM Awas Yojana. Three crore houses have been built...Amit Shah ji once said that DBT was earlier 'Dealer Broker Transfer', but now it has become 'Direct Benefit Transfer'.”
C Rajagopalachari’s great-grandson had resigned from the Congress on February 23, ending his two-decade-long association with the Grand Old Party, which he claimed no longer stands for the values that inspired him to join the party. In his resignation letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, which was shared on Twitter, Kesavan said his ideologies no longer align with “what the party symbolises, stands for or seeks to propagate”.
Notably, not only did Kesavan resign within a month of Congress leader AK Antony's son Anil Antony resigning, but also joined the BJP just days after Antony did.
(With ANI inputs)