Haryana BJP, INLD leaders, industrialist join Congress

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 13

Haryana-based industrialist Ashok Goel, former Haryana BJP leader Pawan Beniwal and INLD vice president Sardar Kanwarjit Singh on Monday joined the Congress in the presence of AICC incharge Vivek Bansal and state unit chief Kumari Selja.

Introducing them, Selja said they had pledged to work for the propagation of Congress ideology and had decided to join the party unconditionally.

“There are leaders who understand that the Congress is the only viable option to the BJP which has proved a failure in all spheres of governance, be it on the issue of farm laws, jobs, prices of essential commodities, or paper leaks. The BJP has become a paper leak government. After the JEE Main paper leak there are reports that NEET UG held on Sunday was also leaked,” Selja said.

Beniwal, formerly with the INLD, had joined the BJP ahead of the 2014 state elections and contested unsuccessfully against INLD’s Abhay Chautala from Ellenabad in the 2019 state polls.

The seat is vacant with bypolls due after Chautala resigned from the state Assembly in January this year in solidarity with the farmers protesting agriculture reform laws.

Beniwal is likely to contest from the seat on a Congress ticket in the bypoll.

Beniwal had quit the BJP in April protesting against farm laws.

Haryana BJP leader Goel is an industralist who Selja said “could have spent a carefree life but decided to enter politics to serve the people”.

Kanwarjit Singh is the son of former Congress MP Tara Singh, who was in the tenth Lok Sabha with Kumari Selja.

Selja said Singh hails from Karnal, the epicentre of farm protests in Haryana.