BJP Hisar MP Brijendra Singh quits party, joins Congress ahead of Lok Sabha elections

New Delhi: Haryana BJP MP Brijendra Singh on Sunday joined the Congress due to differences with the saffron party over "compelling political reasons" while his father Birender Singh, who left 10 years ago, is also set to return, in what is seen as boosting prospects of the Congress party in the Jat belt ahead of Lok Sabha elections.

Congress is also likely to induct another BJP MP from Rajasthan, Rahul Kaswan, who has been denied ticket by the saffron party.

The induction of Brijendra Singh, who was a civil servant for 21 years, came a day after senior leaders like Suresh Pachauri and Manish Khanduri left the party to join the BJP. Sources said he is likely to contest from Hisar seat on a Congress ticket.

Brijendra Singh, a former IAS officer of 1998 batch, said on X that he has resigned from the BJP due to "compelling political reasons" as also from Lok Sabha while thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda for the opportunity given to him.

Joining the Congress in the presence of party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, he told reporters that there were "certain reasons why I was not happy there”. He said he could not agree with certain ideological positions as well as the way wrestlers’ protest and farmers’ issues were handled.

The tension between Birender Singh and the BJP have been simmering for sometime and at a rally last October, he had demanded that the saffron party should snap its ties with ally JJP led by Dushyant Chautala. Brijendra had defeated Dushyant in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Brijendra also referred to the continuation of JJP in the alliance as one of the reasons for his exit. His father had warned the BJP that it will lose the next election if it continues to ally with JJP.

When asked about the joining of Birender Singh in the Congress, Treasurer Ajay Maken told reporters that the senior leader had informed them that he preferred to join the party in a public rally. In 2014, when he joined the BJP after spending 42 years in Congress, he had held a rally.

Birender Singh and Haryana Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda were at loggerheads and their strained relationship was said to be the reason for the former to leave the party. The Hooda faction is believed to have convinced the then Congress leadership to deny Birender Singh a seat in the Manmohan Singh cabinet.

Birender Singh, a multiple-term Haryana MLA and former Rajya Sabha MP, was a minister in the Modi government earlier but did not take any assignment after his son became an MP.