Congress facing bad times, says Jairam Thakur as party's Himachal working president joins BJP

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], September 28 (ANI): In a major jolt to the Congress ahead of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections later this year, the party's state unit working president, Harsh Mahajan joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday and said that the party has become "directionless and leaderless".
Mahajan joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Piyush Goyal today in the national capital.

Speaking on the occasion, Mahajan said, "I was in Congress for 45yrs... today, Congress has become directionless, leaderless. There's neither a vision nor workers on the ground level."
Reacting to the latest induction, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur said that Congress is facing a bad phase with the quitting of the party's working president.
"Congress is facing bad times and you are seeing that situation in the whole country. Himachal Pradesh, which is on the cusp of elections, has a similar situation too," he told ANI.
Thakur hinted that more such joining will be seen in the near future.
Taking a jibe at Congress, Thakur said that two out of the four working presidents that the party appointed have joined the BJP, thus failing the bid to strengthen the party.
"To strengthen the Congress, an arrangement was made that along with a president, 4 working presidents should also be made so that the Congress party would be kept together. They tried to make such attempts. Now out of those four, two working presidents have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party" he said.
"Pawan Kajal was the working president of Kangra, he came first and Nalagarh MLA Lakhwinder Singh Rana, State Vice President of Congress Party, has also joined our party," Thakur added.
The Chief Minister further welcomed Mahajan into the BJP.
"And today I am happy that Harsh Mahajan Ji who is a senior leader of the Congress party and has also been a minister in the Himachal Pradesh government for a long time, was the working president of the Congress party and I can say that he was very close to Holly Lodge. He had an important role in making all the arrangements, making the strategy. So today he joined our party, I welcome him," he said.
He said that half the Congress members are leaving the party and with the passage of time, more people are expected to quit the party.
"I can say that more such things will be seen in the coming time. Half the Congress has left the party. So he is welcomed and greeted and we will give him full respect, place and recognition in the party and give him opportunities according to his stature," he said. (ANI)