SEPT 21- Is there a large group of Congress members from across the country waiting to join the BJP, drawn in by its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi?
Two known Congress leaders with a host of party workers were seen cheering at the Gujarat chief minister’s rally for ex-servicemen in Rewari in Haryana on September 15.
But the incident not only went unnoticed in the din of pro-Modi slogans but also failed to throw light on possible switchover of Congress members to the BJP in many other places in the country.
According to sources in the Congress and the BJP in New Delhi, a host of Congress leaders, including three senior national-level leaders, are planning to join the BJP.
They apparently think they have no future in the Congress and their interests would be better secured if they joined Modi’s bandwagon.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s latest fiat that the state leaders, including chief ministers, will have to guarantee victory of the candidates they recommend for the assembly polls has added to the insecurity of a section of Congress leaders.
On the flipside, this has also generated a debate within the BJP where some leaders believe it would be wrong to welcome these Congress leaders with open arms.
They feel it would hurt the interests of BJP workers who have sweated out for the party for years.
However, there is another section in the BJP that believes almost all Congress members willing to switch sides, except for those who are tainted, should be admitted into the party. This, they feel, has to be an integral part of the party’s strategy of ‘Congressmukt Bharat (Congress-free India.
“For the party’s target of 272 seats, this is necessary,” said a BJP leader, who did not want to named.
INDIA TODAY
