Ritika
Amarinder Singh Joined BJP: Amarinder Singh, a descendant of the Patiala royal family, on Monday joined the list of former chief ministers, including Digambar Kamat and SM Krishna, who have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the last few years.
Amarinder Singh joined the BJP in the presence of other BJP leaders including Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Kiren Rijiju at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi and also merged his newly formed Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) with the BJP.
Amarinder Singh, popularly known as Captain, was the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007 and from March 2017 to September 2021. Later he was removed from the post of CM. After this he left the Congress and later formed PLC. In the last assembly elections, the PLC contested the assembly elections in alliance with the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (United) led by Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. However, none of his candidates could win and Singh himself was defeated from his stronghold, Patiala city.
Which former CMs joined BJP
The name of SM Krishna is prominent among the former Chief Ministers who joined BJP before Amarinder Singh. One of the prominent leaders of the Congress, Krishna was the Chief Minister of Karnataka from October 1999 to May 2004. He has also held the post of Foreign Minister and Governor. He had joined BJP in March 2017. Digambar Kamat was the Chief Minister of Goa from 2007 to 2012. Senior Congress leader Kamat recently joined BJP.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane also left Shiv Sena and joined BJP. Rane, who had a special influence in Konkan politics, had joined the BJP before the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections. He was the thirteenth Chief Minister of Maharashtra and his tenure lasted from 1 February 1999 to 17 October 1999. He succeeded Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi as the Chief Minister.
The sixth Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Vijay Bahuguna also joined the BJP after leaving the post. He was the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from March 2012 to January 2014. Another Chief Minister to join BJP is N Kiran Reddy. He was the 16th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He was the Chief Minister of the state from November 2010 to March 2014. He was the last Chief Minister of United Andhra Pradesh before the formation of Telangana. Later he joined BJP.
Veteran Congress leader Narayan Dutt Tiwari was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh thrice and Uttarakhand once. He had joined the BJP before the 2017 Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand assembly elections. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu had also left the Congress and joined the BJP. In September 2016, he joined the People’s Party of Arunachal along with 43 Congress MLAs. This party was an ally of BJP. Later he became the Chief Minister of the state.
N Biren Singh had quit the Congress in October 2016 and rebelled against the then Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh. After that he joined BJP. In the year 2017, he became the CM of Manipur.
This party also merged with BJP
Apart from these leaders, Babulal Marandi is such a leader who merged his party Jharkhand Vikas Morcha with BJP in 2020. He was the first Chief Minister of Jharkhand. At that time he was in BJP but due to differences he left BJP and formed his own party.
These big leaders joined BJP
Apart from former Chief Ministers, many senior leaders of Congress and other parties have also embraced BJP’s politics in recent years. These include former Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, RPN Singh and Jitin Prasada. Scindia is still a minister in the central government. Former Congress leader Himanta Biswa Sharma also left the country’s oldest party and joined BJP. He was a minister in the Government of Assam. Sharma is the Chief Minister of Assam today.
In the last few years, Suvendu Adhikari (Trinamool Congress), Kuldeep Bishnoi, Bhubaneshwar Kalita, Khushboo Sundar, Satpal Maharaj, Rita Bahuguna Joshi (all Congress) and Gaurav Bhatia (Samajwadi Party) have joined the BJP.
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