Former Punjab minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi quits Congress, joins BJP

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 21

Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, former minister and a loyalist of Punjan ex-CM Capt Amarinder Singh, on Tuesday joined the BJP after quitting the Congress.

The Guru Har Sahai MLA joined the saffron party in the presence of Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Bhupender Yadav.

Accusing the Congress of putting the state’s “security and communal harmony at stake”, Sodhi said “there is a grave danger to peace and communal harmony in the border state”.

“Only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP can save Punjab,” he said.

The BJP has announced a tie-up with Amarinder Singh’s party, the Punjab Lok Congress.

The sitting MLA was dropped from the Cabinet after the ouster of Amarinder Singh.

He is expected to contest the assembly election from Ferozepur, say sources.

Earlier, he tweeted, “I cannot accept Punjab’s suffocation and helplessness! Congress party has put state’s security and communal harmony at stake. With deep agony, I put forth my resignation from all posts and primary membership of Congress party with immediate effect.”

In his resignation letter to AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, Sodhi said, “I have been hand-picked by our illustrious leader late Shri Rajiv Gandhi Ji to contest my first election to the Punjab State Assembly from Guru Har Sahai Assembly Constituency in Ferozepur district in 1985.

“I have all through been a hardcore worker of the party with unflinching loyalty through the thick and thin. I have contested and won Punjab Assembly elections from Guru Har Sahai constituency consecutively four times from 2002 till date.

“l am deeply hurt by the bickering and infighting within the Punjab Congress. This is damaging the party as well as causing serious problems for the state and the government.

“I feel suffocated and helpless in the present situation, especially when the party has put state’s security and communal harmony at stake. Rather than taking action to restore peace in Punjab, the senior Congress leadership is hell bent on destroying the border state for their personal gains.”