Rita Bahuguna Joshi Joins BJP; Questions Rahul Gandhi’s Leadership
Senior Congress member and former chief of Uttar Pradesh Congress joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday.
Daughter of former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, Bahuguna is a widow of senior Communist Party of India (CPI) leader PC Joshi.
Speaking in the presence of BJP president Amit Shah, Bahuguna Joshi criticised Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's leadership and said that the people do not accept him as a leader.
The exit is considered to be a major blow to the Congress party as Uttar Pradesh is months away from Assembly elections.
Rita Bahuguna Joshi was reportedly upset after Shiela Dikshit was projected as the Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming Assembly elections.
"Disappointed in Congress"
Today I have resigned from Congress to join BJP... I have served Congress for 24 years but I feel it has lost its reputation. Sonia Gandhi ji understood us. But under Rahul Gandhi's leadership, it isn't possible. His leadership is not acceptable to the junta.Rita Bahuguna Joshi, BJP Member
“Developments in recent past have left me numb,” Bahuguna Joshi said while criticising Congress for its reaction on surgical strikes.
She also hit out at Rahul for ‘khoon ki dalali' remarks and for demanding proof of surgical strikes.
Congress Hits Back
Uttar Pradesh election campaign chief Raj Babbar critisised Bahuguna Joshi for following her family history of switching political parties.
Yeh itihaas ki professor thi, shayad yehi karan hai ki ye apne parivaar ke itihaas ko dohrane mei chook nhi rahi hai. Inke parivaar mei ye 4th -5th badlav hai. (She was a professor of history, maybe that is the reason why she has not failed to repeat her family's history. This is the 4th or 5th change in their family.)Raj Babbar, Congress Leader
Calling the MLA from Lucknow Cantonment constituency an “opportunist”, party spokesperson Ghulam Nabi Azad also denounced her saying she could not have won her seat.
Avsarvaadi neta ek jagah tiktey nahin. Asli baat hai ki wo seat jeet nahin sakti thi, muqabla mushkil tha. (Opportunist politicians never stick to one place. The reality is that she could not have won a seat as the competition was tough.)Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress Leader
Family History of Party-Jumps
Rita Joshi joined politics at a Mayor's position from the Samajwadi Party (SP) and soon joined the Congress party and spent over two decades with the party, reports Business Standard.
She led the the party's UP Assembly campaign in 2012 and lost. Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's son Akhilesh Yadav was elected Chief Minister that year.
Vijay Bahuguna, Rita Joshi's brother and former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, was among the nine rebel Congress MPs who quit the party, setting the wheel of months-long unrest in the state.
The leader's father, HN Bahuguna, had also quit CPI for a party named Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD) which was one of the parties which formed the first Indian government that was not ruled by the Indian National Congress (INC).
(With inputs from PTI, ANI and Business Standard)
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