CHANDIGARH: In a setback to the BJP, several leaders including former ministers Raj Kumar Verka, Balbir Singh Sidhu and Gurpreet Singh Kangar, who had quit Congress last year to join the saffron party, rejoined their parent party on Friday.
Sidhu, a former three-time MLA from Mohali, was the health minister in the Congress government, while Kangar, a former three-time MLA from Rampura Phul, was the revenue minister. Verka, a prominent Dalit leader from the Majha region, who was also a former three-time legislator from Amritsar (West), was the minister for social justice and empowerment and minorities in the previous government.
Sidhu and Gurpreet Kangar were dropped from the state cabinet after the Congress replaced Capt Amarinder Singh with Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief minister last year. Others who rejoined Congress were Jeet, Mahinder Singh Sidhu, Hans Raj Joshan, Mohinder Kumar Rinwa, Kamaljit Singh Dhillon and Karanveer Singh. The party called the rejoining “ghar wapsi” (homecoming).