More leaders, including INLD MP, join BJP

Ram Kumar Kashyap, sitting INLD MP in Rajya Sabha, joined the BJP on Wednesday in the presence of party working president JP Nadda. Besides him, two-time former MP from Kannur in Kerala A P Abdullakutty, who had been in the CPI(M) and the Congress and was ousted from both parties for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and TDP spokesperson Lanka Dinakar also joined the saffron party.

They met Nadda and were enrolled in the BJP. Kashyap was the lone Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MP in the upper house. With this, the BJP's strength in the Rajya Sabha has increased to 76.

Abdullakutty was expelled from the CPI(M) in 2009 for praising the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. He then joined the Congress, which recently axed him after he credited Modi government's welfare measures for the BJP-led NDA's big win in the Lok Sabha polls. On Tuesday, two INLD MLAs Zakir Hussain and Parminder Singh Dhul had also joined the BJP.