Capt Amarinder Singh loyalist Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi joins BJP

New Delhi, December 21

A loyalist of Captain Amarinder Singh and former minister, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, today joined the BJP after quitting the Congress. The Guruharsahai MLA joined the saffron party in the presence of Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Bhupender Yadav.

Accusing the Congress of putting the state’s “security and communal harmony at stake”, Sodhi said, “There is a grave danger to peace and communal harmony in the border state. Only PM Narendra Modi and the BJP can save Punjab.” The BJP has announced a tie-up with Amarinder’s Punjab Lok Congress. The sitting MLA was dropped from the Cabinet after the ouster of Amarinder Singh. He is expected to contest the Assembly election from Ferozepur, said sources.

Earlier he tweeted, “I cannot accept Punjab’s suffocation and helplessness! The Congress has put state’s security and communal harmony at stake. With deep agony, I put forth my resignation from all posts and primary membership of the Congress with immediate effect.”

In his resignation letter to AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, Sodhi said, “I was hand-picked by our illustrious leader late Rajiv Gandhi ji to contest my first election to the Punjab Assembly from Guruharsahai in Ferozepur district in 1985.

“I have all through been a hardcore worker with unflinching loyalty… I feel suffocated in the present situation, especially when the party has put state’s security and communal harmony at stake,” he said. — TNS

Congress denies ‘exodus’ reports

Amid speculation that the BJP was trying to poach Congress leaders, hectic efforts have begun to prevent ‘exodus’ in the coming days. Party’s Punjab affairs incharge Harish Choudhary denied the reports of several party leaders joining the BJP. However, sources said the BJP was in talks with two former ministers.