4 min readNew DelhiApr 9, 2024 01:16 AM IST
First published on: Apr 8, 2024 at 03:53 PM IST
Former Union minister Chaudhary Birender Singh and his wife and former MLA Prem Lata Singh Monday announced that they have resigned from the BJP and will join the Congress, the move coming almost a month after their son Brijendra Singh joined the grand old party.
“I have resigned from the primary membership of the BJP and sent my resignation to party chief JP Nadda. My wife, Prem Lata, who was an MLA from 2014-2019, has also quit the party. Tomorrow (Tuesday), we will join the Congress,” Birender Singh told reporters in Delhi.
The 78-year-old, whose family wields considerable political clout in Haryana, also met Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Delhi.
On March 10, his IAS officer-turned-politician son Brijendra Singh (51) had joined the Congress after resigning from the BJP. Brijender, who was elected to the Parliament from Hisar in 2019, also resigned from his Lok Sabha membership. Since then there was speculation that Birender Singh would return to the grand old party, nearly 10 years after he had joined the BJP after an over four-decade stint with the Congress.
Talking to reporters, Birender Singh said he had been with the Congress for 42 years but left to join the saffron party in 2014 due to “certain reasons”.
“When I joined BJP, I knew the ideology of this party would be different and there would be some differences between the ideologies of the two parties. Later on, I experienced that there was a wider gap. During my political career, I connected with people who remained dedicated supporters,” the former Union minister said, indicating that this was not recognised by the BJP in the manner it should have been.
Birender Singh was the Union steel minister in the first government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also held charge as minister of rural development, Panchayati Raj, and drinking water and sanitation.
The grandson of farmers’ leader Sir Chhotu Ram, Birender Singh had defied the BJP line on several issues, and had extended support to the farmers’ agitation against the now-repealed farm laws.
The veteran leader said he had raised the issue of the farmers’ agitation on party platforms and urged that their grievances be resolved. “I felt that while I was giving suggestions, those were not being heeded,” he added.
Addressing a rally in Jind in October 2023, Birender Singh had announced that he would leave the BJP if it continued with its alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) in Haryana. The BJP on March 12 snapped its ties with the JJP and installed a new chief minister in state.
Talking to reporters, Birender Singh said the BJP should have heeded his suggestion to end alliance with the JJP several months ago.
Responding to another question, he said, “I have said that I may not be in electoral politics but I will continue to be politically active as long as I can”.
Prem Lata said that her husband has had a clean image and received a lot of love and respect.
“When he joined the BJP, it was with the idea that he would remain in the party for the rest of his life. However, some developments such as the farmers’ agitation took place during which he stood in favour of the farmers. In his mind, he believes the farmers’ issues have not been fully resolved even today,” said Prem Lata.
Birender Singh, who also served as a minister in the Congress government led by Hooda in Haryana, had also expressed solidarity with the wrestlers, who were protesting against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Several wrestlers from Haryana have accused Brij Bhushan of sexual harassment.
–With PTI
Singh joined BJP after ending four-decade-old ties with the Congress in 2014. (File Photo) 
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