NEW DELHI: Four-time MLA and former Haryana minister Nirmal Singh joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), along with his daughter and son, on Thursday.
Singh also merged with the AAP his Haryana Democratic Front (HDF), which he had floated in 2019 after ending his 45-year association with the Congress.
AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Minister Arvind Kejriwal inducted Singh, his daughter Chitra Sarwara and son Udayveer Singh into the party at his residence.
Welcoming them into his party, Kejriwal said in a statement, "We all will work together for the progress of Haryana and the whole country."
While Singh, who joined the Youth Congress in 1974, held various positions in the party in Haryana before quitting it, his daughter Chitra Sarwara, a former volleyball player, served as the All India Mahila Congress general secretary.
"Nirmal Singh, a four-time MLA, was in Congress for 45 years. He is known as a firebrand leader in the entire Haryana region," AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Gupta and in-charge of the party's political affairs in Haryana told reporters later at a press conference.
Former Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Tanwar, who joined the AAP earlier this week, said the Arvind Kejriwal-led party will gain strength in Haryana with Singh joining it.
"He is a very senior leader. He has a very long political career. With his joining, Arvind Kejriwal's AAP and its issues will certainly gain strength in Haryana," Tanwar told the press conference.
Singh said that he decided to merge his Haryana Democratic Front with the AAP and join the party after being inspired by Kejriwal's policies and his model of governance.
"We will work hard to make Kejriwal ji's dream come true. We will work for the common people and the poor with integrity and live up to their expectations, he said.