Manvendra Singh, the son of rebel BJP leader Jaswant Singh and a lawmaker in Rajasthan, joined the Congress today and soon after, called it a “difficult decision” that he had thought over for a long time.
“I asked my family – and father too, though there was no response,” NDTV quoted the 54-year-old. His father Jaswant Singh, 80, has been in coma since 2014, when he suffered a fall.
According to a report published in NDTV, Manvendra Singh quit the BJP on September 22, describing his disenchantment with the party at a public rally with the phrase: “Kamal Ka Phool, Hamaari Bhool” (lotus (BJP) was my mistake).
He said after the death of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, his father’s contemporary in the party, “there is an end of an idea and culture I was born into.”
Jaswant Singh’s rift with the BJP widened when the party refused to field him in 2014 from Barmer in Rajasthan, his home base. Jaswant Singh, one of the founder members of the BJP, contested as an independent and lost to the BJP candidate.
“I may be born Rajput but I belong to all,” NDTV quoted as saying Manvendra Singh.
With Manvendra joining the Congress, the Gandhian party hopes to regain Rajput votes in Rajasthan.
