Dealing a blow to the Congress, its Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu on Tuesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of party general secretary Vinod Tawde in the national capital.

Bittu is the grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, who fought terror and was assassinated by pro-Khalistan terrorists. Bittu was twice elected to the the Lok Sabha from Ludhiana in 2014 and 2019. He was also vocal about his criticism of the Congress going into an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Speaking at the BJP headquarters here, Bittu hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, saying the duo has a lot of love for Punjab and wants to work for the development of the state.

“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?” he said.

Notably, Bittu had served as the leader of Congress in Lok Sabha from March to July 2022. He is the sitting MP from the Ludhiana Lok Sabha constituency and has represented the seat since 2014.

In 2009, he was elected as a Member of Parliament from Anandpur Sahib.

Recently, the Congress turncoat had defied the party line and slammed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, calling him the “biggest thug”.

“Kejriwal & the party rose to power promising Swaraj & Jan Lokpal, but ironically they’ve turned out to be the biggest thugs. This corruption case in Delhi is just the tip of the iceberg…,” he had said.

The Congress party, which is fighting the elections in Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat and Goa in alliance with the AAP, has defended Kejriwal and called his arrest a political vendetta ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

Bittu said the people have made up their mind to elect the BJP to power at the Centre in the Lok Sabha polls, adding there is a need to plug the gap as Punjab has been left behind by other states.

Welcoming the Ludhiana MP into the party fold, Vinod Tawde said BIttu joining the party will strengthen it. The BJP is gearing up to fight the polls in Punjab on its own for the first time in recent decades after a split in ties with the Akali Dal, one of its oldest allies. While talks were on between the two parties to revive their ties, it did not work out.