GANDHINAGAR: Nearly two weeks after resigning from the Congress, former Gujarat minister Naresh Raval and ex-Rajya Sabha member Raju Parmar joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here on Wednesday, months ahead of the Assembly polls.
The two veteran politicians joined the saffron outfit in the presence of Gujarat BJP president C R Paatil along with a large number of their supporters and Raval also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
They criticized the Congress leadership.
Paatil welcomed them into the party fold by offering them saffron scarves and caps.
Parmar has served as a Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat for three terms between 1988 and 2006.
A prominent leader from the Dalit community, he has also served as a member of the National Committee for SC/ST.
Raval, a three-term former MLA from Vijapur in Mehsana district, served as the Minister of State for Home and Industry in a previous Congress government in Gujarat.
He won Assembly polls in 1985,1990 and 1998.
After joining the BJP at its state headquarters "Kamalam", Raval likened the pair of Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Shah to that of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel and said he was not happy with the way top Congress leadership "insulted" Gujarat and Gujaratis.
Parmar attacked the state Congress leadership and said there was no space for dialogue in the opposition party and veterans like him felt sidelined and insulted, which prompted him to join the BJP.
Raval also hit out at his former party.
"I felt uncomfortable the way top Congress leadership insulted Gujarat and the leadership of Modi and Shah who are leading the country. Similarly, they called top industrialists like Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani as 'thieves'. The way they neglected Gujarat and Gujaratis was not acceptable to me," said Raval, a former Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
Talking to reporters later, the former minister said he has joined the BJP without putting any conditions like getting an election ticket.
On being asked why he quit the Congress which offered him so much, Raval said he had to fight and work hard for whatever he has achieved in his political career.
"There is no revdi (freebie) culture in the BJP. We have worked hard, but now there is no opportunity for us to work in the Congress where the top leadership itself is under depression," he said.
Parmar said the Congress of the past is totally different from its current avatar.
"There is no space for dialogue (in Congress), nobody discusses anything. Whenever we wanted to work with the party, we were sidelined," he told reporters.
"There is a control of two to four people and everybody has seen that. There is no discussion in our core committee regarding any programme or appointment. Those who have joined the party yesterday (in recent times) are given preference, post, which is wrong. Those who were dedicated to the party and worked for three to four decades naturally felt unhappy," said the former MP.
Parmar said he was made a Member of Parlaiment three times because of his merit and hard work.
"We have contributed significantly to strengthening the Congress party. We wanted to work in the party and contribute to the society, but the leadership did not want us to work," he said.
Assembly polls in Gujarat are due by the year-end.