Maharia joins BJP in Rajasthan, says Congress govt didn't fulfil poll promises

JAIPUR: Congress leader and former Union minister Subhash Maharia joined the BJP here on Friday and said the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government has failed to fulfil its promises, while corruption has grown under it.

Besides Maharia, retired IPS officer Ramdev Singh Khariwa, retired IAS officer P R Meena, retired IPS officers Gopal Meena, Narsi Kirad and Hemant Sharma joined the BJP at the party headquarters here.

Maharia, who was in the BJP before he joined the Congress, said he was happy to have returned to his family.

''We will create history in the 2023 (Rajasthan) assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. We will make efforts to increase the BJP's vote percentage by 20 per cent in the Sikar region,'' he said.

He added he will fulfil whatever responsibility the party gives him.

Hitting out at the Rajasthan government, Maharia said the Congress has failed to implement its poll promises and corruption has grown under its rule.

BJP's Rajasthan in-charge Arun Singh said corruption is at its peak, law and order has deteriorated in Rajasthan and people are fed up with the state government, which is why various prominent leaders of the Congress are joining the BJP.

''People are fighting against each other in the Congress and people are fed up. Its leaders are accepting the BJP's ideology,'' he said.

Maharia was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998, 1999 and 2004. After he faced defeat in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP did not give him a ticket in 2014. In the 2019 general elections, he contested against the BJP on a Congress ticket.

A prominent Jat leader, Maharia was a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He also served as the national vice president of the BJP's Kisan Morcha.