'Four of five Cong Kathua municipal councillors join BJP'


PTI | Jammu | Updated: 29-10-2018 18:53 IST | Created: 29-10-2018 18:53 IST
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In a major setback to the Congress, four of its five successful councillors in Kathua Municipal Council joined BJP Monday along with two other independent councillors backed by it.

Those who joined BJP included senior Congress leader, Naresh Kumar, who earlier had held the post of Kathua municipal council chairman for two years.

The six joined the BJP saying they had been "feeling suffocated" in the Congress

Those joining the BJP with Kumar also included two other Congress-backed independent municipal councillors of Kathua urban local body.

State BJP president Ravinder Raina welcomed Kumar and his five other colleagues in Kathua Municipal Council, saying their joining the BJP has made the district "Congress-mukt".

Kumar was among the five Congress candidates who had won in the 21-member Kathua Municipal Council in the recent urban local bodies polls.

"I am happy to announce that all the successful candidates of the Congress from Kathua municipal council under the leadership of Kumar joined our party," said Raina.

The BJP and independents had won rest of the 16 wards equally in the council. With Kumar and his five other colleagues joining the BJP, the saffron party has secured two-third majority in the urban body.

Raina said Kumar along with Ajay Kumar, Rekha Devi, Inderjeet and two more independent candidates supported by the Congress met him and told him about their decision to join the BJP this morning.

Kumar is a veteran Congress leader and was a former state secretary of the Pradesh Congress Committee, Raina said, adding their joining the party would help strengthen the BJP at the grassroots level.

Talking to reporters, Kumar said he was "feeling suffocated" in the Congress under the leadership of its president G A Mir who did not even congratulate the winning party candidates.

"We decided to be the part of the BJP after noticing all round development in the district under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His slogan of 'sabka saath sab ka vikas' and pro-poor policies of the government motivated us to join the party," he said.

Kumar said a cross-section of the people of Kathua and his supporters are of the opinion that the time has come to strengthen the BJP to take the country to new heights of development.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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