Communist Party of India leader Kanhaiya Kumar joined the Congress on Tuesday and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani extended his support to the party.
Party leader Rahul Gandhi attended the function at the All India Congress Committee headquarters in Delhi.
The major development comes ahead of the Assembly elections in the BJP-ruled Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh next year.
Mevani said that he cannot join the party as he was an independent MLA. Mevani had won the Vadgam seat in Gujarat in the 2017 Assembly elections as an Independent candidate.
“I could not join the Congress formally due to technical reasons,” he said. “I am an independent MLA, if I join a party, I may not continue as an MLA.”
“Under the current dispensation, our nation is going through an unprecedented crisis. Whatever is happening in India, we have suffered in Gujarat. Delhi and Nagpur are together attacking India’s farmers, youth and women,” Mevani says.
“I am joining Congress because it’s not just a party, it’s an idea. It’s country’s oldest and most democratic party, and I am emphasising ‘democratic’…Not just me many think that country can’t survive without Congress,” Kumar told reporters.
“We look forward to working with these young leaders, Kumar and Mevani, to defeat the fascist forces ruling this country,” says Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal.
