Eight years after he was thrown out of the Congress in the wake of the telecom scam, former communication minister Sukh Ram on Monday rejoined the party.
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“I, as president of Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC), have decided to merge the party with the Indian National Congress,” he told reporters at the AICC headquarters here.
Sukh Ram, who was embroiled in a multimillion-rupee telecom scam during his stint as communication minister in the United Front government in 1996, told reporters that the decision on the merger was prompted by the BJP’s attempts to split the HVC.
“My party was extending support to the BJP-led NDA since 1999, but they returned my favour by trying to split it,” he said.
He then declared that corruption would be an issue in the Lok Sabha elections. Sukh Ram added that he would not accept any public post and would remain a “mere Congress worker” till he was exonerated in the corruption cases that were pending against him.