Former Cong chief whip in RS joins saffron party

The Asian Age.

India, All India

The senior leader represented Assam in the Upper House and his tenure was to end in April next year.

Bhubaneshwar Kalita

New Delhi: Former senior Congress leader Bhubaneshwar Kalita, who had quit the Rajya Sabha over his party’s stand on the abrogation of Article 370, on Friday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Mr Kalita was the Congress’ chief whip in the Upper House of Parliament and, to the suprise of many — even Congress leaders, he had tendered his resignation from the Rajya Sabha, on the morning of August 5, minutes after the Modi government moved the resolution nullifying the provisions of Article 370 and proposed the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories.

The senior leader represented Assam in the Upper House and his tenure was to end in April next year.

In his resignation letter, Mr Kalita had mentioned that he was asked by the Congress to issue a whip but "this is against the mood of the nation" and had claimed that the Congress was "on its way towards destruction" and that he "cannot be a contributor to it."

At the BJP headquarters, Mr Kalita joined the saffron party's fold in presence of Union minister Piyush Goyal and other senior leaders.

Earlier, during the day, former MP and TRS leader G Vivekananda joined the BJP. After joining the BJP in presence of national general secretary Arun Singh, Mr Vivekananda   met party's working president J P Nadda who welcomed him. The former TRS leader had resigned from the Telangana's ruling party and also the post of an adviser to the state government after he was denied a ticket in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

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