Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Thursday said that Punjab Congress former president Sunil Jakhar joining the BJP was not unexpected as he was playing in the BJP hands for a long time. “Jakhar started working for the BJP much before, while still being in the Congress and today’s joining was just a formality,” he said.

At the same time, Warring said that the Congress party will emerge stronger than ever as no individual is bigger than the party. “If anyone thinks that Congress will get weakened, he is badly mistaken...Many leaders come and many leaders go, but the party remains strong and steadfast and it will always remain so,” he said.

Punjab Congress president said that Jakhar had caused maximum damage to the party by parroting the ‘Hindutva’ agenda of the BJP during the 2022 assembly elections. “Otherwise there was no reason for him to rake up the ‘Hindu’ issue during the elections and he only raked it up to help the BJP,” he said. Warring alleged that Jakhar had not only let down the Congress, but had also betrayed his own secular legacy which he was so proudly harping on till the recent past. “Not just the Congress party, but people of Punjab would like to ask Jakhar Sahab as to what happened to his secular beliefs he would cherish until the recent past?” he asked Jakhar.

He alleged that not only had the former PPCC president raked up the communal issue, he had also damaged the party by making undignified remarks against another party colleague which also cost the party dearly in the elections. “We were all surprised as to why Jakhar Sahab was speaking like that, but now the cat is out of the bag and we have got the answers as to what was the reason behind his sustained and persistent campaign against the party that groomed three generations of his family”, he said.

One word, he added, “Jakhar Sahab should reflect and ask what he gave to the Congress party in 50 years and what it cost to the party as several senior leaders left the party just because of him”.

Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh described the development as “right man in the right party”, while claiming that more Congress leaders were likely to desert the “sinking ship” in the coming days. “The exodus from the Congress will continue and the party is headed for an imminent doom. Honest and upright leaders like him (Sunil) cannot breathe in the Congress anymore,” he said, adding, “that space (the Congress party) has grown too stifling and too suffocating”.

Welcoming Jakhar in the party, Punjab BJP president Ashwani Sharma said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary policies were instrumental in influencing the senior Congress leader to join the largest political party in the world.