Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu Joins BJP: Congress Lok Sabha MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, who represents Punjab’s Ludhiana constituency in the parliament, on Tuesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), giving another massive jolt to the Congress party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Ravneet Singh Bittu was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019 on the ticket of Congress. Earlier, Bittu represented the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab from 2009 to 2014.

This is being considered as a massive setback for the Congress, which is struggling to cement its position in the state following a massive debacle during the last State Assembly elections. Bittu had been demanding the party high command to take action against former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Ravneet Singh Bittu is grandson of former Punjab CM Beant Singh

On joining the BJP after quitting Congress, Ravneet Singh Bittu said, "The Prime Minister and the Home Minister always took it positively whenever I raised the issues of Punjab. We want to take Punjab forward. When the country is benefitting, why should Punjab be left behind?"

Ravneet Singh Bittu was among the other Congress leaders, who had been seeking an action against Navjot Singh Sidhu for several weeks after he held rallies without consulting the state unit and cited that the Congress lost the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections due to infighting.

Ravneet Singh Bittu also served as the leader of Congress in Lok Sabha from March to July 2021. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, from Ludhiana seat in 2014 and 2019. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Bittu contested and won from Anandpur Sahib constituency defeating Shiromani Akali Dal's (SAD)’s Dr Daljit Singh Cheema.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, Ravneet Singh Bittu defeated the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Harvinder Singh Phoolka to register a win, while in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, he defeated the Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) candidate Simarjeet Singh Bains to win the seat.

Ravneet Singh Bittu is the grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, who was assassinated by the pro-Khalistan activists in 1995.

During a diplomatic tussle between Indian and Canada, Bittu in the month of  September last year, claimed that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's party was receiving funds from terrorists and drug peddlers like Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who went to Canada in 1993 and got the citizenship.