After being denied a ticket to contest the coming Assembly elections, senior Congress leader Narhari Amin on Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The former Deputy Chief Minister, who was denied a ticket under the Congress high command’s policy of not repeating candidates losing two consecutive elections, had fewer victories than losses in his political career.
But his one victory in a by-election in September 2001 on a Congress ticket was the last straw in the back of then Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and paved the way for Mr. Modi to capture the top job in the State.
In a sense, Mr. Modi thus paid him back and took Mr. Amin, a Patel leader, in the party fold, though much to the chagrin of his own lieutenant and former Home Minister Amit Shah, who is Mr. Amin’s rival in Gujarat Cricket Association politics.
Welcoming Mr. Amin, Mr. Modi claimed that the Congress leader’s joining the BJP would provide a fillip to the ruling party and spell a total rout of the Congress.
