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War of words escalates over HP Congress general secretary ‘8,000 BJP workers’ claim

Zinta said this on Wednesday as he announced that the state Congress is set to launch a statewide party organisation expansion campaign starting July 2, and continuing until July 30.

Updated on: Jul 2, 2026, 08:19:00 IST
ht_print | By , Shimla
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A war of words erupted between Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after state Congress general secretary Vinod Zinta claimed that 8,000 BJP workers have expressed interest in joining the Congress in one month.

A war of words erupted between Congress and BJP after HP Congress general secretary Vinod Zinta claimed that 8,000 BJP workers have expressed interest in joining the Congress in one month. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/ Representational image)
A war of words erupted between Congress and BJP after HP Congress general secretary Vinod Zinta claimed that 8,000 BJP workers have expressed interest in joining the Congress in one month. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/ Representational image)

Zinta said this on Wednesday as he announced that the state Congress is set to launch a statewide party organisation expansion campaign starting July 2, and continuing until July 30.

He announced that the campaign will kick off at the state Congress headquarters, Rajiv Bhawan, and will subsequently be intensified across all districts, blocks, and panchayats in the state.

Zinta claimed that more than 8,000 active BJP workers have expressed an interest in joining the Congress and would be inducted into the party during the Congress organisation expansion campaign that will be completed in two phases. “The first phase, focusing on organizational expansion, will run from July 2 to July 30. Following this, the second phase will see the launch of a Congress membership drive across the state, extending to every district, block, panchayat, and polling booth. The party aims to bring new youth into the fold during this period,” he said.

BJP state spokesperson Sandeepani Bhardwaj reacted sharply to Zinta’s claim of BJP workers joining the Congress within a month, saying, “This only reflects Congress’s desperation, disappointment.”

Bhardwaj said, “Factionalism within the Congress in the state is at its peak, and coordination between the government and the organisation has completely collapsed”.

“The BJP is an ideology-driven organisation, not a party of opportunists. Since BJP workers are driven by ideology, Congress’s false propaganda will have no impact on the BJP’s organisation,” said Bhardwaj.

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shailee Dogra

Shailee Dogra is a Principal Correspondent covering Himachal Pradesh. While working with Hindustan Times since February 2006, her journalism experience spans across covering crime, court, Mohali, Panchkula, in addition to covering the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Reporting for Himachal Bureau, she covers politics, security, public policy, finance, industries and commerce, rural development, legal affairs, environment. Her focus is the socio-political landscape of the hill state, with a specific emphasis on the environment, forest conservation, drug menace, affairs related to tribal areas of the state.

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