Rita Bahuguna Joshi joins BJP; setback to Rahul's plans to turn party's fortunes in UP

In a major setback to Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's plans to turn his party's fortunes in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Rita Bahuguna Joshi (67), former state unit president and a prominent Brahmin face, joined the rival BJP in the presence of its party chief Amit Shah here on Thursday.

The Congress UP state chief Raj Babbar conceded that Rahul was hurt most by her betrayal, as he trusted her the most.

Joshi's differences with Rahul had become apparent immediately after the party nominated another Brahmin face Sheila Dikshit as its chief ministerial candidate.

Joshi blamed Rahul's 'Khoon ki Dalali' remark, referring to Prime Minister Modi highlighting the Army's surgical strikes as the trigger for her to switch the sides. "I did not see any myopic agenda in the BJP," she said in a brief statement after joining the party. But to repeated questions, Joshi, who had taken on the BJP strenuously all these years said: "I have not changed my ideology. I remain secular."

Joshi shift to the BJP was in the air since Monday after she was not seen in public and as such the Congress was prepared for the shock.

A visibly upset party general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad called her a habitual defector as earlier she had also jumped on the Samajwadi Party's bandwagon. He said she may have switched sides, as it was becoming difficult for her to win her assembly seat. She was supposed to contest from Lucknow Cantt constituency. Another veteran leader at Congress headquarters said she, in fact, has traits of being a traitor. Her late father, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, though a towering leader slighted the Congress despite being made the chief minister and Union minister three times, he said.

What had surprised many in Congress is that Joshi was one of the most favourite members of Rahul's team. But since her brother Vijay Bahuguna, a former Uttarakhand chief minister, joined the BJP after attempting to topple the Congress government, she was being sidelined. Her close confidants allege that she was not kept informed about the party's programmes despite being a part of the state campaign committee. The Congress sources admit her exit would harm the party's outreach to the Brahmins who constitute around 10% of the state's population. By nominating Dikshit as chief ministerial candidate, the party hoped to make a dent in upper caste vote bank. The state hasn't had a Brahmin chief minister from the time ND Tiwari demitted office in December 1989.

Bahuguna admitted that she felt isolated in the Congress, more so after strategist Prashant Kishor was roped in by Rahul to engineer the party strategies in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

Insiders in the party also said Prashant had warned that Rita may leak the party strategies to the BJP through her brother. Joshi acknowledged that Sonia Gandhi had the ability but Rahul has none and that is why the people have rejected his leadership. A former professor in the Allahabad University, she spent 24 years in the Congress. She was the Allahabad mayor for five years from 1995 and the PCC chief from 2007 to 2012.

Sidelined

What had surprised many in Congress is that Rita Bahuguna Joshi was one of the most favourite members of Rahul's team. But since her brother Vijay Bahuguna, a former Uttarakhand chief minister, joined the BJP after attempting to topple the Congress government, she was being sidelined. Her close confidants allege that she was not kept informed about the party's programmes despite being a part of the state campaign committee. The Congress sources admit her exit would harm the party's outreach to the Brahmins who constitute around 10% of the state's population