Senior Congress leader Tom Vadakkan on Thursday, 14 March, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
He also met BJP President Amit Shah.
“I left Congress party because when Pakistani terrorists attacked our land, my party’s reaction to it was sad, it hurt me deeply. If a political party takes such a position that is against the country then I’m left with no option but to leave the party,” Vadakkan said, referring to the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.
Believed to be a close aide of Sonia Gandhi, Vadakkan was once the national spokesperson of Congress and a former secretary of the AICC.
In an apparent attack on Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Vadakkan said he gave the party two decades of his life but it has now resorted to a practice of "use and throw".
Dynastic politics has reached its zenith in the Congress, he said, adding that he believed in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's development narrative.
“I have worked for the Congress for 20 years. But dynastic politics has reached the zenith. A use-and-throw phenomenon has started,” The News Minute quoted him as saying.
The BJP may field Vadakkan in the Lok Sabha elections from a constituency in Kerala.
According to TNM, Vadakkan had previously expressed his desire to contest elections but was never able to do so. Reports said he was not likely to get a ticket from Kerala for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections either.
"Fielding him in the elections is something I won't discuss now. I don't think he has joined the party expecting a seat in the election, but it is in protest against the Congress' stand on the Pulwama attack. The BJP will have much gains in the state," BJP state President PS Sreedharan Pillai told TNM.
(With inputs from ANI and The News Minute)
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