EMBARRASSING EXODUS FOR BJP

In the first week of October, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s images from the Golden Temple in Amritsar—head covered in blue scarf, hearing Gurbani kirtan and performing sewa (community service)—flashed across media.

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

Though, on Rahul’s request, the Punjab Congress unit termed the two-day visit a personal one, the local party unit arranged a meeting between three-time MLA Raj Kumar Verka—a long-time Congressman who had joined the BJP in June 2022—and Rahul. Two weeks later, on October 14, Verka led one of the biggest exoduses from the BJP, back into the Congress. The posse included, other than Verka, Balbir Sidhu, Gurpreet Kangar (both vice-presidents of the Punjab BJP) and Sunder Shyam Arora—all four were ministers in the Amarinder Singh/ Charanjit Singh Channi Congress regime who had joined the BJP a year back—as well as former MLA Amrik Dhillon and former Mohali mayor Amarjit Sidhu.