Former Deputy Mayor Manoj Wadhwa joins Congress
Parveen Arora
Karnal, May 13
In a boost to the Congress party’s campaign, former Deputy Mayor Manoj Wadhwa, who recently quit the BJP, joined the Congress in the presence of Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda at his residence on Monday. Manoj’s wife Asha Wadhwa along with scores of supporters also joined the Congress. Hooda assured them that they would be given full respect in the party fold.
Wadhwa was booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by the ED recently in connection with alleged illegal mining. He and his son were summoned by the ED in the case.
Wadhwa had unsuccessfully contested the Assembly poll in 2014 on the INLD ticket against former CM Manohar Lal Khattar, while his wife had also contested the last Mayoral elections in December 2018 against BJP candidate Renu Bala Gupta. She lost the elections in a close contest. After the election, Wadhwa joined the BJP.
Wadhwa alleged harassment by the BJP even though he was in the party. “I joined the BJP in 2019 and in the past four and half years, I have faced a lot of harassment, mental stress and discrimination, which led me to leave the party,” said Wadhwa. Announcing that he will make all-out efforts to ensure the victory of Congress candidate for the Karnal Lok Sabha constituency Divyanshu Budhiraja and for Karnal Assembly byelections Trilochan Singh.
Meanwhile, Wadhwa handed over a copy of the Constitution of India to Hooda, urging him to make efforts to save the Constitution as it was in danger under the BJP regime.
Congress candidate for the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat, Deepender Hooda referred Wadhwa as an energetic leader and said he and his supporters would be given full respect.
