LS polls 2014: Jagdambika Pal, Raju Srivastava formally join BJP

New Delhi, March 19: Former Congress leader Jagdambika Pal and stand up comedian Raju Srivastava formally joined hands with the Bhartiya Janata Party (

) on Wednesday.

The BJP president Rajnath Singh said that Pal's decision to join the party would go a long way in strengthening the party on the national stage.

"I welcome Jagdambika Pal and Raju Srivastav into the party. Their entry will add to the strength of the party. Pal and Srivastava have been given significant roles in the party", Rajnath Singh said.

Raju Srivastava said, "I want to work for my people. I have not joined the party anticipating an important post responsibility."

He stressed that "only BJP under Narendra Modi can give a stable and corruption free government in India."

Srivastava added that he was not keen to contest and will do party work as entrusted to him. He said he would willingly campaign for BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.

BJP under Modi can give a stable and corruption free government in India: Raju

63 year- old Pal said that he was keen to contest the Lok Sabha election but left the final decision on the party's Central Election Committee.

Known as the one-day Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Pal is keen to contest from Domariyaganj, the constituency from where he won on a Congress ticket in the last election.

Rajnath Singh, while handing over membership slip to Pal, said he has quit his primary membership of Congress as well as the Lok Sabha seat.

When asked about reasons for quitting, Pal claimed there was a "communication gap" between the new and the old generation leaders in Congress.

In an oblique reference to Rahul Gandhi, he said there was a "disconnect between the young leaders and the veterans".

"Only courts are empowered to give clean chit to anyone. Rahul Gandhi hasn't given Modi ji clean chit only to create a misleading situation during polls," he added.

Earlier this Month, Pal gave a major setback to the Congress as he quit the party by stating that it failed to give him his due.

The speculations about Jagdambika would join BJP had emerged since the time he parted ways with Congress but he had mentioned that "neither would I join BJP nor would be seen at Modi's rally."

Yesterday, BJP workers from Domariyaganj, which is Pal's Lok Sabha constituency, and its surrounding areas staged a sit-in at BJP headquarter demanding denial of ticket to the leader. They claimed Pal had engineered the fall of BJP government of Kalyan Singh in 1998.

Last week, Raju Srivastava had returned the Samajwadi Party (SP) Lok Sabha ticket to contest from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh saying he was not getting enough support from the local units of the ruling party.

OneIndia News