BJP gets more star power, singer Daler Mehndi joins party

New Delhi, Apr 26: Singer Daler Mehndi joined Bharatiya Janata Party in presence of BJP North West Delhi candidate Hans Raj Hans and Union Minister Vijay Goel.

The singer joined the league of celebrities, who recently took a political plunge this Lok Sabha elections. The Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi had joined Congress earlier in 2013.

Earlier this week, the BJP has fielded Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans from the North West Delhi ending the suspense over the BJP candidature from this seat with the party replacing incumbent MP Udit Raj with the popular singer. Hans will take on Guggan Singh of the AAP and Rajesh Lilothia of the Congress.

Daler Singh, known by his stage name "Daler Mehndi", is an Indian singer, songwriter, author, record producer, performer, and environmentalist. He is credited with making Bhangra popular worldwide, and helping to set up a parallel non-film Indian pop music industry to the pre-Daler era's then existent Bollywood music.

He is best known for his energetic dance songs, his distinctive voice, turban and long flowing robes. Mehndi and six others were accused in 2003 of cheating people of large sums of money by falsely promising to take them to Western countries.

In March 2018, Mehndi was sentenced to 2-years in prison by Patiala court in a human trafficking case. The singer and his brother Shamsher were charged for illegally sending people abroad as a part of their dance troupes.

Daler was arrested after registration of the case and released on bail after a few days. Mehndi said he will appeal the conviction in a higher court.