Denied ticket by BJP, North West Delhi MP Udit Raj joins Congress

New Delhi, Apr 24: Upset over refusal of ticket for the Lok Sabha polls, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Udit Raj joined the Congress on Wednesday.

"Congress President @RahulGandhi welcomes Shri Udit Raj into the Congress party," the party tweeted on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the BJP replaced Raj from the North West Lok Sabha constituency with Punjabi Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans. Raj, who had earlier said he would contest as an independent candidate if the party did not announce his candidature, said he will decide his future course of action after consulting his supporters.

Raj said on Monday that he had tried to talk to BJP chief Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi about his ticket but did not get any response. Senior party leaders, including Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh, had asked him to wait, he had claimed.

In a series of tweets Tuesday morning, Udit Raj had tried to building pressure on the party for a ticket. "I am waiting for ticket if not given to me, I will do goodbye to party," he wrote.

Raj later said while speaking to reporters that he did not know the reason why the BJP denied him a ticket.

"I trusted the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and merged my Indian Justice Party with the BJP. I now realise many smaller regional parties have benefited more by remaining independent.... I'm deeply hurt that I was not even given a chance to defend myself," Raj said.