After son, Birender Singh leaves BJP, set to rejoin Congress after 10 yrs

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 8

Former Union Minister Birender Singh is set to join Congress on Tuesday after a gap of 10 years with the Haryana stalwart announcing his resignation from the BJP today.

JJP state chief quits

Less than a month after the BJP and JJP parted ways in Haryana, the JJP faced another setback on Monday with state chief Nishan Singh quitting the party.

His son Brijendra Singh had joined the Congress on March 10 and it was expected he would follow suit. The father-son duo had defied the BJP on several occasions, be it supporting farmers’ protest over farm laws (now repealed) or women wrestlers’ sexual harassment allegations against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Talking to mediapersons in Delhi, Birender said he had resigned from the primary membership of the BJP and sent his resignation to party president JP Nadda. “My wife Prem Lata, who remained MLA from 2014 to 2019, has also quit the party. Tomorrow, we will join the Congress,” he added.

Birender had served as Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Sanitation and Drinking Water from 2014 to 2016 and later as Union Minister of Steel from 2016 to 2019 in PM Narendra Modi’s Cabinet. His wife had served as BJP MLA from Uchana Kalan in Jind from 2014 to 2019 after defeating former Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala. The JJP leader went on to defeat her in 2019. The political career of the 78-year-old leader, who is from Jat icon Sir Chhotu Ram’s family, spans over 50 years. He started his career as chairman of the Block Samiti, Uchana, from 1972 to 1977. Despite a Janata Party wave, he got elected to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha in 1977 from Uchana Kalan. That year, the Congress had won just three seats and he was one of the MLAs. He won again in 1982 and became a minister.

In 1984, Birender contested from the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, where he defeated Om Prakash Chautala, polling close to 52 per cent vote. He entered the Vidhan Sabha again in 1991 and became a minister, and then won his fourth term in 1996. After winning his fifth term, he became Finance Minister in the Bhupinder Hooda government.

In 2010, the Congress nominated him to the Rajya Sabha. However, after the party’s rout in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Birender revolted against Hooda and joined the BJP in the presence of then party president Amit Shah at a Jind rally in August 2014.

After resigning from the Rajya Sabha, Birender got re-elected and served as a minister in the Modi Cabinet. He was elected again to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 but resigned in 2020, two years before his term was to end.

Birender maintained that his suggestions on farmers’ agitations were not heeded in the BJP and the party also failed to act on his demand for snapping ties with the JJP. He had earlier announced that he would leave the saffron fold if the BJP-JJP alliance continued.

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