Tajinder Bittu, two-time Cong MP Santokh Chaudhary’s widow Karamjit Kaur join BJP

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New Delhi, April 20 (IANS) Denied a ticket from the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat by the Congress, which her husband Santokh Chaudhary served as MP twice, Karamjit Kaur on Saturday joined the BJP along with AICC secretary and co-incharge of Himachal Pradesh, Tajinder Bittu.

A prominent Dalit face, Kaur expressed regret while snapping her family’s 98-year-old ties with the Congress.

Her MLA son earlier resigned as the Congress chief whip in protest against the party’s decision not to give the ticket to his mother.

Considered a close confidant of the Gandhi family, AICC Secretary and co-incharge of Himachal Pradesh, Tajinder Bittu also resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP.

The Chaudhary family is a prominent face in the Doaba, region, the hub of Dalit politics.

The Congress has fielded former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi from Jalandhar (Reserved), which was opposed by the Chaudhary family.

Kaur’s legislator son, Vikramjit Chaudhary, represents the Phillaur Assembly segment in Jalandhar District. He was conspicuous by his absence from the BJP’s joining ceremony.

Santokh Chaudhary passed away last year during Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. Following his demise, a bye-election took place in which the Congress fielded his wife. However, Kaur lost the seat by over 58,000 votes to the AAP’s Sushil Kumar Rinku, a Congress turncoat.

Now, Sushil Kumar Rinku has joined the BJP and is the candidate of the saffron party from Jalandhar.

Bittu was the District Congress Chief in Jalandhar in 2002 during the tenure of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. He later became the Jalandhar Improvement Trust Chairman. He was the AICC Secretary for over five years.

--IANS

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