'Cowards can't fight battle against BJP': Congress on RPN Singh exit

Lucknow, Jan 25: Congress on Tuesday slammed senior party leader RPN Singh for joining BJP, days ahead of a high-stake battle in Uttar Pradesh. Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the is fighting an ideological battle in which only those with courage can carry on and not cowards.

"The battle which Congress party is fighting can be fought only with bravery... It requires courage, strength and Priyanka Gandhi Ji has said that coward people can't fight it," Shrinate said.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur downplayed the impact of the former Union Minister's exit on politics in his state.

"Many incharges have come and gone, doesn't matter. He must have decided after a lot of thinking. We're true soldiers of Congress, we'll live and die here. We think his decision is wrong," Thakur told ANI.

Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said Singh was ''not fully committed" towards the party's ideology and that is why he left this fight midway to join the saffron party.

Amba Prasad, a Congress MLA in Jharkhand also accused Singh of destabilising the Congress-JMM government in the state.

"For more than a year, RPN Singh ji was trying to overthrow the Congress-JMM government of Jharkhand by colluding with the BJP. The party leadership was also constantly warned about this. Every true Congressman of Jharkhand is happy with his going to the BJP," Prasad said in a tweet in Hindi.

RPN Singh on Tuesday joined the BJP in the presence of the saffron party's Uttar Pradesh in-charge and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Singh is the second big exit from the Congress in Uttar Pradesh after Jitin Prasada quit it last year. Prasada joined the BJP and later became a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.

"This is a new beginning for me and I look forward to my contribution to nation building under the visionary leadership & guidance of the Honourable Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi, BJP president Shri @JPNadda ji & Honourable Home Minister @AmitShah ji," Singh, a former Union minister, had tweeted before his joining.

Besides Pradhan, Jyotiraditya Scindia, who quit the Congress to join the BJP and is a Union minister, was also present for Singh's joining in ceremony. Singh was also the in-charge for Jharkhand affairs of the Congress, where the party is in power along with the JMM.

He has earlier represented the Padrauna assembly constituency and had defeated Swami Prasad Maurya from Kushinagar in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Singh was on Monday included in the Congress list of 30 star campaigners for the first phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh.