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3 ex-Punjab ministers among eight join Congress
Raj Kumar Verka, Balbir Sidhu and Gurpreet Kangar rejoined the party from the BJP, whereas the three former MLAs Hansraj Josan, ex-MLAs Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu and Mohinder Kumar Rinwa jumped ship from Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)
In a major boost for the party, several Punjab leaders, including former ministers Raj Kumar Verka, Balbir Sidhu and Gurpreet Kangar who had left the Congress to join the BJP after the 2022 state poll debacle, returned to the party fold on Friday.
The other state leaders, who also joined the Congress in Delhi, included former minister Hansraj Josan, ex-MLAs Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu and Mohinder Kumar Rinwa, former Mohali mayor Amarjit Singh and Kamaljit Dhillon, with the party describing it as “ghar wapsi”.
They were re-inducted into the party by All India Congress Committee general secretary KC Venugopal in the presence of Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Congress Legislature Party leader Partap Singh Bajwa.
Verka, Balbir Sidhu and Gurpreet Kangar rejoined the Congress from the BJP, whereas the remaining three former MLAs have come from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
Bajwa said the Congress will gain from their return. “This will motivate the party cadres in the state,” he said.
Verka said they had committed a blunder by leaving the Congress party to join the BJP. “We have corrected our mistake,” said the Dalit leader from Majha region. “Unlike the Congress, the BJP has not been able to accommodate all sections of society. So, leaving my mother party was my fault,” Verka added.
Verka, Balbir Sidhu and Kangar, who were ministers in the previous Congress regime, had jumped ship together in June last year after the party was routed in the state assembly polls and all three lost their seats. Their return to the Congress is being seen as a blow to the state BJP, particularly the present state unit president Sunil Jakhar. He too had left the Congress to join the BJP in May 2022. Jeet Mohinder, who joined the Congress from SAD, is a former MLA from Talwandi Sabo. He was suspended by the disciplinary action committee of SAD from the party two days ago for “anti-party activities”. Jeet Mohinder was in the Congress earlier and had joined the Akali Dal in 2014. Josan and Rinwa, who are also from South Malwa, had left the Congress to join the Akali Dal in 2021. The SAD expelled the duo from the party just hours before they showed up at the Congress office in Delhi to rejoin the party.
