Senior Congress Exit: RPN Singh Joins BJP Ahead

UP Election 2022: RPN Singh is the second big exit for the Congress in UP after Jitin Prasada,

New Delhi, Lucknow: RPN Singh, one of the most prominent Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh today quit the party and joined the BJP ahead of next month’s elections in the state. He is likely to contest the UP elections from his own stronghold Padrauna, from where he has been elected MLA thrice.

RPN Singh, a prominent OBC (Other Backward Class) leader from eastern UP, is the second major exit for the Congress in the state after Jitin Prasada, who is now a minister in the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in UP.

“I am in a party for the last 32 years, but today I must say that the party is no longer the same. Today, everyone knows that if there is one party which is working for the benefit of the people and that is the nation. It is BJP,” RPN Singh told reporters this afternoon. He was accompanied on the stage by Jyotiraditya Scindia, who took the Congress-to-BJP route in 2020.

RPN Singh was in the list of star campaigners of Congress for UP announced yesterday only. But he was reportedly angry with the party for some time and felt isolated in the Priyanka Gandhi Vadra-led campaign in UP.

As soon as the news of her switch surfaced, Congress quoted Priyanka Gandhi as saying that “the battle the Congress party is fighting can only be fought bravely” and “cowards cannot fight it”.