NEW DELHI: Ahead of the 2022 Punjab Assembly Polls, former cricketer Dinesh Mongia and others joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Congress MLA Fateh Bajwa from Qadian and Balwinder Singh Laddi from Shri Hargobindpur Sahib joined the BJP in presence of Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Besides, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Gurtej Singh Gundhiyana, President of United Christian Front Punjab Kamal Bakshi, Advocate in Punjab and Haryana High Court Madhumeet, Civic body member from Nihal Singh Wala, Jagdeep Singh Dhaliwal and Ex-MP from Sangoor Rajdev Khalsi also joined the party.
"I want to serve the people of Punjab by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party. Today, there is no other party that can work better than the BJP for the development of the country," said Mongia.
In the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, Congress won an absolute majority in the state by winning 77 seats and ousted the SAD-BJP government after 10 years.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had emerged as the second-largest party winning 20 seats in the 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Pary (BJP) had won 15 and 3 seats respectively.