New Delhi: Former Congress leader Tajinder Singh Bittu joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Delhi on Saturday, April 20, within hours after quitting Congress. Tajinder Singh Bittu, AICC Secretary In-Charge Himachal Pradesh and close aide of Priyanka Gandhi, resigned from primary membership of Congress Party. 

Tajinder Singh Bittu said that he resigned from the Congress party as the party has deviated from the core issues. After joining BJP, Bittu told reporters that he had been feeling "suffocated" in the Congress after being with the party for over 35 years. Bittu joined the BJP at the party headquarters in Delhi in the presence of Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and party general secretary Vinod Tawde. 

"I have spent almost 35 years in the Congress party and today I feel that the Congress Party has deviated from the issues. I do not want to speak against anyone. For the betterment of Punjab, I joined BJP...'' He resigned from his post of AICC Secretary In-Charge Himachal Pradesh & primary membership Congress party, earlier today.

Tajinder Singh Bittu, earlier in the day, resigned from the primary membership of the party. “I tender my resignation from the party membership of the Indian National Congress and my post of AICC- secretary Co-incharge of Himachal Pradesh,” said Bittu in his resignation letter. 

Along with Bittu, Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, the wife of late Congress veteran Santokh Singh Chaudhary, also joined the BJP. Chaudhary had last year unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha bypoll in Jalandhar following the death of her husband, who was the sitting MP. At a press conference, Tawde said their induction into the BJP will boost the party, especially in Punjab where the polls are scheduled for June 1. 

Congress Reacts to Bittu's Resignation 

“The high command has to decide why he went out of the party, what was resentment? I don't have much knowledge about it. Another co-incharge will be placed,” said Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh on the resignation of Bittu.