Former Union minister Birender Singh, wife join Congress

Singh was the Union steel minister in the first Cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and held additional charge of rural development and Panchayati Raj

Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union minister Chaudhary Birender Singh and his ex-MLA wife Prem Lata on Tuesday joined the Congress, a move he termed not just was a ‘ghar wapsi’ (homecoming) but also ‘vaicharik wapsi’ (ideological return).

Former BJP leader Chaudhary Birender Singh after joining the Congress in New Delhi on Tuesday. (ANI Photo)

They were welcomed into the Congress by MPs Mukul Wasnik and Randeep Surjewala, along with senior leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Udai Bhan and Pawan Khera, among others.

Criticising the “politics of speaking ill and appeasing seniors”, Birender said, “Everyone should live up to their practical values and dignity and should stop this type of politics.”

Singh said the “country must rise to save parliamentary democracy” and that he can sense the voters’ changing stance since he has been in politics for 52 years.

“Birender Singh has had a long political history with the Congress and held the position of MLA and MP several times until 2014 when he joined the BJP after resigning from the Congress,” Wasnik said, adding that Singh’s return will “strengthen the party at the national front” and even in Haryana where there has been a “situation of anarchy” for a few years.

Singh was the Union steel minister in the first Cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and held additional charge of rural development and Panchayati Raj.

Their son and former BJP leader Brijendra Singh also joined the Congress recently.