Former Union minister Birender Singh and his ex-MLA wife Prem Lata joined the Congress on Tuesday, a decade after quitting the party.
Their joining comes a month after their son Brijendra Singh joined the party after quitting the Congress.
Birender Singh (78) is the maternal grandson of the farmer leader Sir Chhotu Ram and had quit the Congress in 2014 to join the BJP.
He was Union minister for steel in the first government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also held the charge of rural development, panchayati raj, and drinking water and sanitation.
Welcoming Birender Singh and Prem Lata into the Congress, party leader Mukul Wasnik said, “With their joining, I am sure the Congress will be strengthened in Haryana and help form the Congress government in the state.”
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “With his (Birender Singh) rejoining, he has proved the age-old saying, ‘East or West, Home is the best’. He is my elder brother and I am very happy about his return to the Congress fold.”
“We need to increase our strength by displaying unity and only then will we be able to save democracy and the Constitution,” Hooda said.
Other Congress leaders including Kumari Selja, Haryana party chief Uday Bhan, former Haryana Assembly speaker Kiran Chaudhary, former Punjab deputy chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, and AICC OBC Cell head Capt Ajay Singh, were also present on the occasion.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First Published: Apr 09 2024 | 1:40 PM IST
