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Rohan Gupta joins BJP weeks after quitting Cong, says it became directionless
Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said Rohan Gupta’s decision to join the BJP was on expected lines,
AHMEDABAD: Former Congress leader Rohan Gupta, who exited the party last month, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday and mounted a sharp attack on the Congress, saying it has become directionless and was full of contradictions and had lost credibility.
Gupta joined the BJP at the party headquarters in Delhi in the presence of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde.
He cited the Congress’s stand on a host of issues, including its decision to skip the Ram temple consecration ceremony, its opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act and the decision to align with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
“How many contradictions can be there? There is a communication in charge who has ‘Ram’ in his name, he told us to keep quiet when Sanatan (Dharma) was being insulted… An alliance using the country’s name was made but anti-national forces were included in it,” said Gupta, who had been a familiar face of the Congress in TV debates. “What is the compulsion that (Arvind) Kejriwal who was accused of being connected with Khalistanis today is being supported by them?” he added, according to news agency ANI.
Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said Gupta’s decision to join the BJP was on expected lines, underlining that Gupta’s decision to put out his resignation on social media on March 22 was also part of the script dictated to him by his new bosses.
To be sure, the Congress on March 12 named Rohan Gupta, who previously held the role of social media head for the party, as its candidate from Ahmedabad East Lok Sabha. On March 18, he released his letter to the party withdrawing from the race due to his father’s poor health.
In a surprise move four days later, he resigned from the Congress citing what he described as repeated instances of “constant humiliation” and “character assassination”.
“I took most difficult decision of my life of withdrawing my candidature. Now I am taking another most difficult decision of leaving the party after serving it for last 15 years because of constant humiliation and character assassination by the leader connected with communication department,” he said in a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
