Former Independent legislator from Mundka Assembly constituency Rambir Shokeen and his Municipal Councillor wife Rita joined the Congress on Sunday.
Mr. Shokeen, who was elected an Independent MLA in the 2013 polls from Mundka in North-West Delhi, attributed the step to the erosion of his “faith in (the) Bharatiya Janata Party” in addition to his strong support for “the secular credentials of the Congress”.
Interestingly, Mr. Shokeen’s similar expression of faith in the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the last few months is well documented.
On Sunday, however, Mr. Shokeen said that he had been “an Independent legislator so far” and so had his wife, who is a ward councillor in the Narela Zone of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation. “We had no political allegiance until now,” he said.
Mr. Shokeen alleged that despite claims made by both the Prime Minister and the BJP’s Amit Shah on the absence of “dynastic rule in the BJP”, ‘parivarwaad’ (or dynastic politics) was being furthered within — a direct hint towards his constituency, which is also the home constituency of former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma.
Meanwhile, Mr. Shokeen’s wife alleged that the BJP-led NDMC did not support the development work that she wanted to carry out in her area.
“Not only has the faith of the people of Delhi waned in the BJP like it has for us, we decided to join the Congress because a lot of good things happened in those 15 years, like the Delhi Metro, when it was in power,” Mr. Shokeen said.
