Bhadana, Rahi join Cong in UP

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, February 14

Cancelling the press interaction in view of the Pulwama terror attack, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said it would not be appropriate to have a political discussion at such a time.

Both the general secretaries — Jyortiraditya Scindia and Priyanka — expressed their condolences for the bereaved families of the martyred jawans and assured their families that the entire country was behind them at this hour.

Priyanka asked all those present to observe two-minute silence in the memory of the martyred before leaving. She also made Avtar Singh Bhadana, a prominent Gujjar leader from Haryana, and Ram Lal Rahi, a Dalit leader from Sitapur, formally join the Congress. For both of them, it was a home coming of sorts.

Rahi was a Union Minister of State for Home in the Narsimha Rao government. He had represented Mishrikh reserved constituency in Sitapur.

His returning to the Congress fold is believed to be followed by the entry of his son Suresh Rahi who is a sitting BJP MLA from Hargaon Assembly constituency in Sitapur.

Bhadana also returned to the Congress fold after quitting the BJP. In 2017, he had won on a BJP ticket from Meerpur Assembly constituency in Muzaffarnagar.

He has thrice represented Faridabad in Parliament as a Congress MP. He was the Faridabad MP from 1991 to 1996 and then for two terms from 2004 to 2014. He had also won from Meerut in 1999.