The Bharatiya Janata Party has successfully engineered more defections of leaders from its main rival Congress amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024.
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The Punjab Congress received fresh blows on April 20 after national general secretary Tajinder Pal Singh Bittu and Karmjeet Kaur Chaudhary, wife of the late Santokh Singh Chaudhary, joined the saffron party, according to a report in the Indian Express.
Key defectors
The report further said that the family of Karmjeet has some influence on the Dalit voters in some pockets of Jalandhar constituency.
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In 2023, she had fought unsuccessfully against Aam Admi Party’s Sushil Kumar Rinku in the Lok Sabha bypolls after the death of her husband. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Karmjeet was in contention before the grand old party chose former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi for the seat. Following the decision, Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Chaudhary and the son of Karmjeet decided to quit as Congress chief whip in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, the report said.
The other defector Bittu was with the party for over 35 years and the AICC secretary-in-charge of Himachal Pradesh.
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He said he was feeling suffocated in the party, which had developed three power centres, according to the report. Bittu’s decision is significant since he was considered close to senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
