'Country Needs Congress': Kanhaiya Kumar Joins Party, Jignesh Mevani Says Formal Entry Later

CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Tuesday joined the Congress in the presence of party leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi.

“I have joined Congress because I have realised that there are some people who have an ideology to destroy the country…Congress is the most democratic party," he said. “This country needs Congress," he added. Kumar however said did not join the party with the intention of saving it, “I am not here to save the party…I am here to protect the country."

In a fresh attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kumar said, “PM was celebrating his birthday when the country was reeling under the scourge of a pandemic."

Rahul Gandhi in a tweet celebrating the recent entry into the party tweeted a picture with the leaders using the hashtag Bhagat Singh. “In the kingdom of lies, revolution comes from the truth. All the new and old comrades will have to participate in this Satyagraha together," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

Kumar jumped ship after he met former Congress president Rahul Gandhi amid reports that he was feeling “suffocated" in the CPI. Sources in Congress said Kumar was keen to play a key role in Bihar politics. He had unsuccessfully contested from Begusarai in Bihar against Giriraj Singh of the BJP.

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Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani who is the convener of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (RDAM) also joined the grand old party. “We are going through a disastrous period…a dangerous ideology is being propagated from Delhi and Gujarat," he said after joining the party. “We have to fight this ideology…and who better to do with than the party that fought the British," he said.

He however said he is not formally joining Congress today. “I am not formally joining Congress today since I am an independent MLA…Rahul Gandhi has allowed me to join later…but I am very much ready to work with congress."

The SC leader had helped the party in the last assembly elections by not fielding a candidate from the Vadgam seat in Banaskantha district of northern Gujarat. A lawyer-activist and a former journalist, Mevani’s entry into the Congress comes at a time when it is wooing the scheduled castes community after handpicking the first Dalit chief minister of Punjab.

(With PTI inputs)

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