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Several Congress leaders including Chandra Singh Baid, the son of former Rajasthan Finance Minister Chandanmal Baid, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the November 25 Assembly polls.
Apart from Baid, who is the former Congress MLA from Taranagar, Jyoti Khandelwal the former -Mayor and Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Jaipur also jumped ship to the BJP. Khandelwal is said to be a loyalist of Sachin Pilot. Addressing a press briefing here, the state BJP unit chief CP Joshi said that several leaders joining the party indicated that people are expressing confidence in the most popular leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that this is not a mere 'wave' of BJP but a 'storm'. According to Joshi, Vice-chairman of Rajasthan Heritage Authority Sanwarmal Maheria and former Congress MLA from Rajgarh constituency, Nandlal Punia also joined the party. Ex-IPS officers Bhim Singh, and Kesar Singh Shekhawat also took the membership of BJP. The BJP is leaving no stone unturned to oust Congress from power in Rajasthan. Earlier this month, the party released its second list of candidates for the Assembly elections, fielding former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje from Jhalrapatan. The party declared 83 candidates in the second list, which figured some prominent names including former state BJP president Satish Punia, who has been fielded from the Amber constituency. While the Congress Party had won 99 seats in the 2018 elections in the 200-member state assembly, the BJP had won 73 seats. Counting of votes will take place on December 3 along with four other states which will go to the polls next month. (ANI)
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