‘It’s ghar wapsi’: Ex-cricketer Kirti Azad quits BJP to join Congress

NEWDELHI: Cricketer-turned-politician and Lok Sabha member from Bihar’s Darbangha constituency, Kirti Azad, on Monday joined the Congress, terming his move as “ghar wapsi” (homecoming).

Azad said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with which he was associated for over 26 years, lacked internal democracy.

Before making the announcement at a news conference in Congress headquarters in Delhi, Azad, 60, met party president Rahul Gandhi. He was suspended by the BJP for alleged anti-party activities in December 2015. Azad told reporters that he “served the BJP selflessly” for 26 years, but under the Modi government he realised that the “real face behind the mask” was becoming evident.

Azad’s father Bhagwat Jha Azad was a veteran Congress leader, who served as the Bihar chief minister from February 1988 to March 1989.

“Internal democracy in the BJP is finished. Nobody is willing to listen to you,” said Azad, who was a member of the 1983 World Cup winning Indian team.

“The Congress is like a family to me...,” he said, alleging that some people in the BJP too have serious doubts over the controversial Rafale deal that has generated much heat both within and outside Parliament.

Criticising PM Narendra Modi on his response to the Pulwama terror attack, Azad said, “I want to remind him of his statement in which he had asserted that he will get 10 heads in revenge for one.”

“I was inspired by [former PM] Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani when I joined the BJP. There is big difference between the old BJP and the one that is there at present,” he said.

Bihar BJP vice president Devesh Kumar said, “For all practical purposes, Kirti Azad was not being invited to any program of the party for last one and half years. Now that he has decided to take a plunge into Congress field, we wish him the best.”

› Internal democracy in the BJP is finished. Nobody is willing to listen to you. KIRTI AZAD, Lok Sabha member