In a massive blow to the Congress just weeks ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, senior leader and former Union Minister RPN Singh resigned from the party on Tuesday, 25 January and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Soon after tendering his resignation to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Singh joined the BJP in the presence of UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, and Union Ministers Anurag Thakur, Dharmendra Pradhan, and Jyotiraditya Scindia at the party headquarters in Delhi.
'Congress Not the Same Anymore'
Addressing the media, Singh said that he has spend 32 years with the Congress but the party is not as it was before.
"I was with the party for 32 years with honesty and dedication, but the party and the ideology is not the same anymore. If the country is to be taken forward, I will work as a volunteer towards fulfilling PM Modi's dreams for India," he said.
He also praised the Yogi Adityanath-led "double-engine government" and the law and order situation in the state.
He later met BJP chief JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath at the party headquarters.
Singh earlier took to Twitter to say: "This is a new beginning for me and I look forward to my contribution to nation building under the visionary leadership & guidance of the Honourable Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi, BJP President Shri @JPNadda ji Honourable Home Minister @AmitShah ji (sic)."
Earlier, Singh had dropped "AICC (All India Congress Committee) in-charge" from his Twitter bio.
A former MP from the Padrauna constituency of Uttar Pradesh between 1996 and 2009, Singh was also previously the head of Jharkhand Congress.
Following Singh's resignation, Congress appointed Avinash Pandey as General Secretary in-charge of Jharkhand.
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