Telangana News

Former Uttar Pradesh Congress chief, Rita Bahuguna Joshi joined the BJP just a while, in the presence of party chief Amit Shah. 

"This was a difficult decision. I have served Congress for 24 years. I have taken this decision for benefit of the nation," Rita Bahuguna Joshi said.

Explaining about the reason behind quitting the Congress, Joshi further added, “When the whole world has accepted that we carried out the surgical strikes, I didn't like it when Congress and other parties questioned it.” She even hit out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his 'Khoon ki dalali" remark. 

Bahuguna who has been a prominent Brahmin face in the Congress party's state unit, is expected to undercut Congress's Brahmin outreach that has seen the party project former Delhi CM Shiela Dikshit as its chief ministerial nominee.

Brahmins who would be around 14% of the electorate, are seen as an important vote bank in UP, where BJP, Samajwadi Party and BSP seem locked in a close contest for the assembly polls due next year.