Shivraj Patil’s daughter-in-law joins BJP, K’taka ex-MLC Tejaswini goes to Congress

New Delhi, March 30

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, senior Congress leader and former Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil’s daughter-in-law Archana Patil joined the BJP in Mumbai on Saturday even as Karnataka BJP leader Tejaswini Gowda switched to the Congress.

Archana joined the BJP in the presence of Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and the BJP’s state unit president Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

Shivraj Patil, who hails from Latur in Marathwada region of Maharashtra, was Union Home Minister during the UPA-I government, but stepped down in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Prior to that, he had also served as the Lok Sabha Speaker. Fadnavis said Archana had been associated with social work and her joining the BJP would help the party in Latur and the Marathwada region.

Last month, former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan, a heavyweight hailing from Nanded region of Marathwada, also joined the BJP. Archana said she had been associated with social work for two decades and decided to choose the BJP for politics.

Days after resigning as an MLC in Karnataka, BJP leader Tejaswini joined the Congress on Saturday. She was previously a Congress MP between 2004 and 2009 and later joined the BJP in 2014. She had represented the Kanakapura segment, which is now Bangalore Rural, from the Congress, defeating former PM HD Deve Gowda of the JD(S). A former journalist, she was upset over not being given the ticket from Bangalore North. She alleged the saffron party did not believe in constitutional and democratic values.

She was inducted into the Congress in the presence of party general secretary Jairam Ramesh and media and publicity department head Pawan Khera at its headquarters here. “The Congress believes in action and not just words. History is there for us to see. With all sincerity, I would like to work for the party. The BJP does not believe in constitutional democratic values,” she alleged. (With PTI inputs)