New Delhi: In a boost to BJP in Punjab in the run up to the ensuing assembly polls, Inderjeet Singh, grandson of former President Gyani Zail Singh, on Monday joined the saffron party.
Inderjeet Singh also referred to the road accident that killed Zail Singh in 1994 and said: "Don't know whether it was an accident or the accident was orchestrated".
Congress veteran and a former Union Minister Gyani Zail Singh served as the President from 1982 to 1987.
Singh's term was marked by mega events in Indian politics such as Operation Blue Star, the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
On November 29, 1994, Zail Singh suffered multiple injuries following a road mishap near Kiratpur Sahib in Ropar district when a truck "driving down the wrong side" of the road hit the car he was travelling in.
The former President breathed his last at PGI, Chandigarh on December 25, 1994.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, BJP leaders Dushyant Gautam, R P Singh and BJP central media in charge Anil Baluni were present on the occasion. Welcoming Inderjeet Singh into the party fold, Union Minister Hardeep Puri said he personally had a long association with the former President and thus he was more than glad to know about Inderjeet Singh's decision to join the Lotus party.
"You are joining BJP at a time when the situation is challenging either in Punjab or elsewhere. Your long social service will give strength to the party. At the time, we can also carry forward the
social services you have launched for many years now," Mr Puri said.
The Union Minister also lamented that the Congress-run Punjab government has not implemented goof welfare schemes such as Awas Yozana and the Ayush health scheme.
"At the same time, the differences in the ruling party (Congress) in Punjab is coming out," he said adding Inderjeet Singh's suggestions would be very helpful for the BJP.
Speaking on the occasion, Inderjeet Singh said, "My joining BJP fulfills longtime desire of my grand father, Late Gyani Zail Singh. The manner Congress treated him despite such loyalty is well known".
"I had gone to film world….My grandfather Gyani Zail Singh had advised me to take the blessings from BJP stalwarts Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani ji. It is true I had not joined BJP, but Gyani ji always felt if I join a political party, it should be the BJP," Inderjeet Singh said.
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