After Hans Raj Hans, singer Daler Mehendi joins BJP
In what seems as yet another indication that BJP is relying on star power this election season, celebrated singer Daler Mehendi joined the saffron party on Friday. Daler was inducted into the party in the presence of BJP MPs Manoj Tiwari and Vijay Goel. Singer Hans Raj Hans, who was given a BJP ticket from Northwest Delhi, was also present at the event.
This isn't Daler's first political plunge. In 2013, he had joined Congress but chose to switch to the other side this time. It is important to highlight that Daler's daughter is married to Hans Raj's son.
Shri Daler Mehandi joins BJP in the presence of Shri @ManojTiwariMP , Shri @ShyamSJaju
— BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) April 26, 2019
Shri @VijayGoelBJP , Shri @drharshvardhan , Shri @hansrajhansHRH pic.twitter.com/HQzCMa0ezC
Interestingly, for the national capital, BJP has chosen popular faces as candidates. Former cricketer Gautam Gambhir was given a ticket from East Delhi. Gambhir replaced sitting MP Maheish Girri and will take on Congress' Arvinder Singh Lovely and Atishi Marlena of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Similarly, Hans Raj will be locking horns with Congress candidate Rajesh Lilothia and AAP's Gugan Singh.
However, by giving a ticket to Hans Raj, BJP miffed sitting MP Udit Raj, who joined Congress on Wednesday. Before leaving BJP, Udit posted a series of tweets tagging party president Amit Shah and warned that his followers are getting restless. Udit gave a deadline and urged the party to announce a candidate soon. Later, Udit said BJP wanted a "dumb and deaf" Dalit leader.
"I wanted to join the Congress since a long time and (Congress chief) Rahul Gandhi knows this. If BJP would have given me a ticket from there (northwest), I would have fought from there. But now people know how anti-Dalit BJP is," Udit said.
BJP did its math before placing bets on Hans Raj. According to reports, he was chosen because of the caste composition of voters. "He ticked all the right boxes and also because there is a sizeable number of voters of his caste in North West Delhi," a report claimed. Notably, he resigned from vice-president post of National Commission for Safai Karmchari for general polls.
