Rita Joshi’s close 17th Congress leaders joined BJP

TIL Desk/National/Lucknow/ Seventeen Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh close to their former state chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who last week joined BJP, on Tuesday resigned from the primary membership of the party in her support.

Among those who resigned were leaders of the city unit and women wing, said Congress state unit secretary Shabnam Pandey, who led the move. Some 17 leaders in a statement said they have resigned from the primary membership of the party as well as their respective posts, condemning the derogatory comments made against Joshi after she joined the BJP.

“We condemn the act of the Congress workers for insulting Bahuguna, who had served the party for 24 years,” she said in a statement here. In a jolt to Congress in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, senior party leader Joshi had on October 20 joined the BJP, with her previous party terming her a “betrayer” and one pursuing “selfish politics”.