Bye-Bye, Congress! Rita Bahuguna Joins BJP Ahead of UP Elections

Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Rita Bahugana Joshi joined BJP on Thursday in presence of BJP president Amit Shah ahead of UP polls.

Soon after joining the BJP, Joshi said that she was disappointed with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi under whose leadership the party has become inactive in Uttar Pradesh.

He said Joshi's exit won't have any affect on the state Congress.

While Joshi does not have a significant personal following in the state, to lose a Brahmin leader doesn't bode well for the Congress Party, which has pegged its election campaign on wooing Brahmins, an estimated 14 percent of the electorate.

"When her brother joined the BJP in Uttarakhand, the Congress remained unaffected".

"India is fighting terrorism and the Modi government has given the army a free hand. Now another leader (read Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav) too is raising the same point which I raised once", said Babbar. "When the whole world accepted that we carried out surgical strikes, I didn't like the way the Congress and other parties questioned it. Words like "Khoon ki dalali" were used that saddened me", Joshi added.

In a stinging criticism of Rahul Gandhi, she said, "There is nothing hidden about Rahul Gandhi's leadership qualities. How could Congress ask for proof of strikes?".

Noting that she had spent 24 years out of 27 years of her political career in Congress and only 10 months in Samajwadi Party, she said, "The decision to quit Congress was not easy".

Mr. Babbar said "Rita Bahuguna Joshi is a betrayer even though the party leadership had full faith in her".

The assembly polls in UP are due early next year. Moreover, in Manipur 2 MLAs quit Congress thus to join BJP, today on Monday.

Rumours of her likely departure from the Congress first surfaced soon after her elder brother Vijay Bahuguna, the former Congress CM of Uttarakhand, rebelled against incumbent Harish Rawat in 2014. Speaking on law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh and the increasing number of rapes in the state, she had slammed the Mayawati government for allegedly giving Rs 25,000 rupees in compensation to rape survivors.

"The SP, BSP is looting the nation and it is not possible for the Congress to stop it". She said she will work overtime to help BJP to come to power.

Apart from the Gandhi scion, she was also extremely critical of poll strategist Prashant Kishor who is said to have played a crucial role in sidelining her party's day to day affairs.