Union Steel Minister in the previous Modi government, Chaudhary Birender Singh, and his wife Premlata Singh, resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on April 8. The couple will join the Congress party at Delhi on April 9.
Mr. Singh told The Hindu that he and his wife, a former MLA, will join the Congress along with many supporters. “I had already announced [our decision] to quit the BJP in case they continued to have an alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP). Though the alliance fell apart two days after my son and Hisar MP Brijendra Singh resigned and joined the Congress, the decision was already made and could not be reversed,” Mr. Singh said over phone.
He said that he had been very vocal on issues, including the farmers’ agitation against the three farms laws, the wrestlers’ protest, and the Agniveer Scheme, and these too were among the reasons for his decision to quit the BJP.
