Former Union minister Birender Singh on Monday said he has quit the BJP and will join the Congress on Tuesday. This move came almost a month after his son Brijender Singh joined the grand old party. Birender Singh’s wife and former BJP MLA from Haryana Prem Lata also quit the BJP.

Talking to journalists in New Delhi, Birender Singh said, “I have resigned from the primary membership of the BJP and sent my resignation to party chief JP Nadda. My wife Prem Lata, who remained MLA from 2014-2019, has also quit the party. We will join the Congress on Tuesday.”

Birender Singh had joined the BJP nearly 10 years ago after an over four-decade-long stint with the Congress. After his son joined the Congress on March 10, there was speculation that Birender Singh would follow suit.

Birender Singh, who is the maternal grandson of the peasant leader, Sir Chhotu Ram, had served as a Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Sanitation & Drinking Water from 2014 to 2016 and later as the Union Minister of Steel from 2016 to 2019 in the Narendra Modi led NDA Government at the centre. 

He contested his first election in 1972. He contested the legislative assembly election in 1977 from Uchana Kalan constituency on Congress ticket and won the seat, despite a strong anti-congress wave in the country.  Singh had won five times from Uchana to be a legislator in Haryana Vidhan Sabha (1977–82, 1982–84, 1991–96, 1996–2000 and 2005–09) and served three times as Cabinet Minister in Haryana.

Singh joined BJP in 2014, after tendering his resignation from the membership of Rajya Sabha. He was elected for Rajya Sabha again as BJP MP, for the remaining two-year term (2014-2016). In November 2014, he took oath as a Cabinet Minister in Modi government and was given the charge of the Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. He was re-elected to Rajya Sabha for the third time in 2016 for a six-year term (2016-2022). In July 2016, during the second cabinet reshuffle of the Modi Ministry, he replaced Narendra Singh Tomar as the steel minister. He resigned two years before the end of his tenure, after his son Brijendra Singh won from Hisar Loksabha Constituency in 2019 general elections.