Madhukeshwar Desai | Vitthal Radadiya | Kuldeep Bishnoi
![Mdoi welcoming NSUI activists]( "Mdoi welcoming NSUI activists")
Gujarat CM Narendra Modi with Youth Congress and NSUI supporters after they joined the BJP.
After he failed to reverse the fortunes of his party in the Assembly election in Gujarat, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi's efforts to galvanize the youth wing of the party in Gujarat received a body blow on Thursday with more than a thousand NSUI activists joining BJP at a public function near Ahmedabad.
The workers were personally welcomed by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who used the opportunity to lambast the UPA 2 Government.
The development, coming just ahead of by-elections in the state, is being viewed largely as an obvious fall out of former Congress strongman Narhari Amin's defection to BJP ahead of the assembly election last year.
It may be mentioned here that the Congress vice president, in his bid to democratize NSUI, had visited Gujarat and tried to initiate the process of elections. However, with the electoral prowess of the party on the wane across the state, his efforts brought little success.
Further, Rahul's decision of not giving tickets to losing candidates saw Narhari Amin shifting loyalties to BJP. Amin, who had tasted his last electoral success in 2001, was at the helm of the state cricket association for a long time and also held considerable sway over NSUI.
While Congress had chosen to play down his defection, the importance he had held in Gujarat polity could be judged from the fact that senior Congress leaders like BK Hariprashad and Rajiv Shukla had come down to mollycoddle a sulking Amin, when he first threatened to deflect to BJP, albeit with no success.
Incidentally, the great grandson of late Prime Minister Morarji Desai, Madhukeshwar Desai has also joined BJP as the vice president of the party's youth wing in Gujarat. It is learnt that close aides of Rahul Gandhi had sounded Desai out and wanted to include him in the team and put him in charge of Gujarat. However, Desai opted for BJP, making it clear that he wants to support the BJP in Gujarat.
Moreover, Congress has suffered some serious losses in Saurashtra too with powerful Patel leader Vitthal Radadiya, an MP from Porbandar, joining BJP along with his son Jayesh. Radadiya will be contesting the Porbandar Lok Sabha seat under a BJP ticket while his son will contest from the Jetpur assembly seat.
In a further bad news for Congress, the Lok Sabha MP from Hissar and president of the Haryana Janhit Congress Shri Kuldeep Bishnoi met Modi in Gandhinagar. Bishnoi described Modi as a visionary and a legendary leader who has made a place in the hearts of people across the world and added that he has been deeply inspired by Narendra Modi's leadership.
Kuldeep Bishnoi, who is the son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal is on his maiden visit to Gujarat and said that he is deeply impressed with development in Gujarat and that he has seen for himself all that he has been reading about Gujarat's progress. He credited Modi with the development and said Gujarat can be an inspiration for other states, adding that Modi is a role model not only among the youth but also among the every section of society.
The workers were personally welcomed by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who used the opportunity to lambast the UPA 2 Government.
The development, coming just ahead of by-elections in the state, is being viewed largely as an obvious fall out of former Congress strongman Narhari Amin's defection to BJP ahead of the assembly election last year.
It may be mentioned here that the Congress vice president, in his bid to democratize NSUI, had visited Gujarat and tried to initiate the process of elections. However, with the electoral prowess of the party on the wane across the state, his efforts brought little success.
Further, Rahul's decision of not giving tickets to losing candidates saw Narhari Amin shifting loyalties to BJP. Amin, who had tasted his last electoral success in 2001, was at the helm of the state cricket association for a long time and also held considerable sway over NSUI.
While Congress had chosen to play down his defection, the importance he had held in Gujarat polity could be judged from the fact that senior Congress leaders like BK Hariprashad and Rajiv Shukla had come down to mollycoddle a sulking Amin, when he first threatened to deflect to BJP, albeit with no success.
Incidentally, the great grandson of late Prime Minister Morarji Desai, Madhukeshwar Desai has also joined BJP as the vice president of the party's youth wing in Gujarat. It is learnt that close aides of Rahul Gandhi had sounded Desai out and wanted to include him in the team and put him in charge of Gujarat. However, Desai opted for BJP, making it clear that he wants to support the BJP in Gujarat.
Moreover, Congress has suffered some serious losses in Saurashtra too with powerful Patel leader Vitthal Radadiya, an MP from Porbandar, joining BJP along with his son Jayesh. Radadiya will be contesting the Porbandar Lok Sabha seat under a BJP ticket while his son will contest from the Jetpur assembly seat.
In a further bad news for Congress, the Lok Sabha MP from Hissar and president of the Haryana Janhit Congress Shri Kuldeep Bishnoi met Modi in Gandhinagar. Bishnoi described Modi as a visionary and a legendary leader who has made a place in the hearts of people across the world and added that he has been deeply inspired by Narendra Modi's leadership.
Kuldeep Bishnoi, who is the son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal is on his maiden visit to Gujarat and said that he is deeply impressed with development in Gujarat and that he has seen for himself all that he has been reading about Gujarat's progress. He credited Modi with the development and said Gujarat can be an inspiration for other states, adding that Modi is a role model not only among the youth but also among the every section of society.