BJP, BSP leaders join Congress in Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH: Even as BJP is yet to announce its candidate for

Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat

, the Congress candidate

Pawan Kumar Bansal

has intensified its

election campaign

.


On Saturday, senior leaders of BJP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) joined the Congress along with their workers and supporters in the presence of Bansal.

At a function organised at the

Congress Bhawan

, Sector 35, the coordinator of BSP Chandigarh and its youth leader

Dilawar Singh

, senior women’s wing leader Nirmala Devi and senior BJP Minorities Cell leader Naushad Khan formally joined the Congress along with several supporters.

Pawan Kumar Bansal and Chandigarh Congress President Pradeep Chhabra welcomed the new entrants into the party fold by garlanding them, even as enthusiastic Congress party workers raised slogans.

The man behind bringing these leaders from rival parties into the Congress was party MLA from Himachal Pradesh Rajinder Rana, who indicated that this was just the beginning.

Welcoming the leaders into the party fold Bansal and Chhabra assured them that they will be given due respect and treated like family members in the Congress.

Speaking on the occasion, Dilawar Singh said that BSP Supremo Mayawati was completely ignoring Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana region and was confining herself to Uttar Pradesh alone in these elections. This was the reason why he quit the BSP and joined the Congress. He maintained that the country was burning in the fire of an emergency-like situation. To douse the flames his supporters in great numbers will put in their every effort to ensure a thumping win for Bansal, he added.