Tajinder Pal Singh Bittu, a close aide of Priyanka Gandhi quit Congress after 35 years on Saturday, moving to BJP. Wife of late Congress veteran Santokh Singh Chaudhary, Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary also joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Both the leaders joined the saffron party in the presence of Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and its national general secretary Vinod Tawde. Bittu told reporters that he had been feeling "suffocated" in the Congress after being with the party for over 35 years.
Chaudhary had last year unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha by-poll in Jalandhar following the death of her husband, who was the sitting MP.
During a media conference, Tawde said their induction into the BJP will boost the party, especially in Punjab where the polls are scheduled for June 1.
"Three-four power centres work in the Congress and all of them seek to function independently without having any coordination," he claimed.
Tawde also targeted the Congress over the murder of a girl by a man on a college campus in Karnataka's Hubli and alleged that its government in the state does not seem to be taking appropriate action as it is protecting its vote bank and not women.
The victim, Neha Hiremath, daughter of a Congress councillor, was allegedly stabbed to death by Fayaz Khondunaikin, who was subsequently arrested.
Local BJP leaders have called it a case of "love jihad", a claim dismissed by Congress.
Tawde said a similar attitude was displayed by the TMC government in West Bengal over the Sandeshkhali issue as it allegedly worked to protect the accused Shajahan Sheikh and not the women who were victims.
Crime and criminals have no religion and culprits should be dealt with stringently, the BJP leader added.
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