(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Senior Punjab politician Jagmeet Singh Brar yesterday resigned from the Congress Party. He is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Brar, a former Congress MP from Punjab, was with the party for nearly 35 years.
"I have resigned from the primary membership of the Congress Party. I will decide the future course of action soon," Brar told reporters here.
There is strong speculation that he would join the BJP.
Brar said he could not tolerate the "humiliation" meted out to him by the party, adding that in the recent past, there had been a number of "dishonourable sanctions" against him for "speaking out" his mind to uphold the democratic values.
"And I have waited long enough to see them revoked," he said. "I cannot tolerate this dishonour anymore, and have decided not to extend the wait for its revocation anymore. I have been asking myself: Who controls the controller in this party."
He said: "As it seems, the political sincerity in my old political party is understood not in terms of the sincere political action, political service to the nation, but rather the political sincerity is measured by the amount of sycophancy, to which my ethical, moral political will could not be ready all these years."
Brar praised Narendra Modi's functioning as a prime minister during the past seven months, saying he has emerged as a "determined" leader.
He also praised Modi for raising drug issue on a radio programme. "I appreciate him (Modi)... Punjab is not facing a political crisis, it is facing crisis of survival of next generation. I appreciate the step of government of India on drug menace," he said. In the same breath, Brar also said he does not see the BJP is a communal party and it does not follow dynastic politics as being practised by other political outfits like the Akali Dal.
The BJP, which has had an alliance government in Punjab with the Shiromani Akali Dal since 2007, has been looking for leaders with good political base in the Malwa belt.
The Akali Dal enjoys considerable influence in this belt.
A former Congress Working Committee member, Brar was suspended from the party in August 2014 following his outburst against the leadership after the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha polls.
He had then said that the Congress leaders should go on a sabbatical.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.