‘Congress still in the past’: Sanjay Sinh quits party, will return to BJP

Senior Congress leader Sanjay Sinh on Tuesday resigned from the party and his membership of the Rajya Sabha and is set to join the BJP, the party he once represented in Amethi.

“Congress is still in the past, unaware of the future. Today, country is with PM Modi & if the country is with him, I’m with him. I will join BJP tomorrow. I have resigned from the party, as well as my membership of Rajya Sabha,” the 67-year-old leader said.

The Congress and the Rajya Sabha chairman have accepted his resignation.

The former confidant of the Nehru Gandhi family was a member of the Rajya Sabha from Assam and his term was to expire in April next year.

Sinh had contested from Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur in the recently held Lok Sabha elections and lost to BJP’s Maneka Gandhi.

Known to be close to Sanjay Gandhi, Sanjay Sinh quit the Congress to join the Janta Dal in 1988. He later shifted to the BJP in 1998 and won from Amethi but was defeated by Sonia Gnadhi in 1991. He returned to the Congress fold in 2003 and won the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Sultanpur.

Sinh will be the 7th MP of the Rajya Sabha to cross over to the BJP in last one and a half month. Earlier four MPs of Telugu Desam Party, one each of the Indian National Lok Dal and Samajwadi Party joined the BJP.