According to sources, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former MLA Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal will join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi on Sunday. According to sources, his induction will take place at the party’s national headquarters in the presence of senior BJP leaders. Furthermore, AIADMK leader and former Rajya Sabha member Dr Maitreyan is expected to join the saffron party on Sunday, according to sources.
Earlier on Saturday, CR Kesavan, the great-grandson of C Rajagopalachari, India’s first Indian Governor-General, joined the BJP. Kesavan resigned from Congress on February 23, saying that he has not even seen vestiges of the values that made him work for the party with dedication for over two decades.
Kesavan shared his resignation letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Twitter saying he could no longer concur with “what the party symbolises, stands for or seeks to propagate”.
His resignation came within a month of the desertion by former Union minister AK Antony’s son, Anil Antony, who parted ways with the party after coming out in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the controversial BBC documentary series.
Anil Antony joined the BJP on April 6, in the presence of Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and V Muraleedharan. Kerala BJP chief K Surendran and senior party leaders Tarun Chugh and Anil Baluni were also present on the occasion.
Earlier on Friday, former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, joined the BJP here in the national capital.
Reddy, who served as the last chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, joined the BJP in the presence of Union minister Prahlad Joshi, general secretary Arun Singh and MP K Laxman, at a function organised at the party headquarters. Reddy was elected chief minister of Andhra Pradesh on November 11, 2010, but resigned on March 10, 2014, in protest of the Congress party’s decision to divide the state.
The developments come ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year.