In yet another blow to the Congress ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Vibhakar Shastri, grandson of India’s former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, resigned from the party’s primary membership on Wednesday and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Taking to X, Vibhakar Shastri tagged Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and said, “I hereby tender my resignation from the primary membership of Indian National Congress.”
After snapping ties with the grand-old party, Vibhakar Shastri joined the BJP in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak.
After joining BJP, Vibhakar Shastri said, “I would like to express gratitude towards PM Narendra Modi, JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak for opening the doors of BJP for me. I think that I would get an opportunity to take forward my grandfather Lal Bahadur Shastri’s vision. I will work as per the directions of the party leadership… INDIA alliance has no ideology but aims to remove Modi ji…Rahul ji should tell what is even Congress’s ideology…”
Shastri’s resignation comes days after several other congress stalwarts, including Ashok Chavan, Baba Siddique and Milind Deora, quit from the Maharashtra unit of the party.