Former Congress leader Gourav Vallabh joins BJP

NEW DELHI: Gourav Vallabh, who resigned from the Congress citing the party’s ‘lack of direction’, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the national capital on Thursday. Vallabh joined the BJP at an event organised at the party’s headquarters in Delhi.

In his first reaction after severing all ties with the party, Vallabh said that he was ‘hurt’ over its silence when some big shots in the party and its partners in the INDIA bloc spewed venom on Sanatan Dharma.

After distancing himself from the Congress, Vallabh said, “I wrote to (Congress national president) Mallikarjun Kharge, voicing all my misgivings and emotions. I was hurt by my party’s silence when some prominent leaders in the INDIA bloc made unsavoury remarks against Sanatan. I also publicly opposed our party’s stand on Ram Mandir (the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of Lord Ram Lalla in Ayodhya)”.

#WATCH | Delhi: Former Congress leader Gourav Vallabh joins BJP, in the presence of BJP General Secretary Vinod Tawde. pic.twitter.com/NAc0kX22vW

— ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2024

Vallabh, who had been very vocal for the party and represented the party on several TV debates, said that he had found himself uncomfortable with several stands taken by the party.

“I am uncomfortable with the directionless way, in which the Congress Party is moving forward today. I can neither raise anti-Sanatan slogans nor abuse the wealth creators of the country all day long, which is why I I am resigning from all posts and primary membership of Congress Party”, he said in a post on X.

He further alleged that the Congress party is moving in the wrong direction, against the “basic principles of the party.” “These days, the party is moving in the wrong direction. On one hand, we talk about the caste-based census and on the other hand, the party seems to oppose the entire Hindu society. This style of working gives a misleading message to the public that the party is a supporter of a particular religion only. This is against the basic principles of Congress,” he said.

In the two-page letter, the former Congress spokesperson also alleged that Congress’s stand on economic matters had “always been to humiliate and abuse the wealth creators of the country”. “Today, we have turned against those economic liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation (LPG) policies, for which the world has given us credit for implementing in the country. Is it wrong to earn money by doing business in our country?” he wrote.

“When I joined the party, my only aim was to use my ability and capability in economic matters in the interest of the country. We may not be in power, but we could have presented the party’s economic policy-making in the national interest in a better way in our manifesto and elsewhere. But, this effort was not made at the party level,” he said.

Significantly, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has been severly critical of industry bigwigs like Guatam Adani and has alleged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given them undue favours.

Gourav Vallabh had contested the Rajasthan Assembly election from the Udaipur constituency in 2023. However, he lost to the BJP candidate with a margin of around 32,000 votes. (ANI)