Ex-Cong leader Manpreet Badal joins BJP

New Delhi: Former Congress leader from Punjab, Manpreet Singh Badal joined the BJP on Wednesday.
Manpreet joined the Party in the presence of Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, and National General Secretary, BJP Tarun Chung and other senior leaders at the party headquarters in New Delhi.
“Manpreet Badal is an experienced political leader who has served Punjab . We welcome you and I believe that the party will be stronger in Punjab” Piyush Goyal said at a press conference here.
Thanking party leaders, Manpreet said, “under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi India has made its presence globally through our diplomacy. The future belongs to India under Modi and as a politician from Punjab, we have to think what Punjab can gain from this golden era of our country”.
Speaking about the resignation, he said, “It is very difficult for me to stay in the Congress particularly the manner in which the party has conducted its affairs and taken decisions with regard to Punjab.”
Manpreet also blamed “factionalism” in Congress for his decision to quit and said, the party is at war with itself.
The nephew of former chief minister and Akali stalwart Parkash Singh Badal, Manpreet served as the finance minister of Punjab both in the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government from 2007-11 and in the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government from 2017-22.
In 2011, Manpreet floated the People’s Party of Punjab after parting ways with the SAD.
He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as a Congress-supported candidate and joined the Congress in 2016. (UNI)