New Delhi, 03 October (H.S.): Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar, journalist Rajat Rakesh Tandon and former Uttar Pradesh MLA Shyam Sundar Sharma joined the Congress on Saturday. The three formally joined the party in the presence of Congress Rajya Sabha MPs Rajeev Shukla and Syed Naseer Hussain, party media department chairman and Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Khera, and other party leaders.

At a programme held at the party headquarters here on Saturday, Shyam Sundar Sharma, who joined the Congress, said he had served as an MLA in Uttar Pradesh eight times and had also been a minister. Rajat Rakesh Tandon comes from a family with a longstanding association with the Congress and has worked as a journalist for more than two decades. Priyanka Kakkar is a former national chief spokesperson of the Aam Aadmi Party and a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India.

After joining the Congress, Priyanka Kakkar said that if there was a leader who was not afraid to advance his views, it was Rahul Gandhi. Referring to Rahul Gandhi’s campaign concerning Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, she said that he had made people aware of the issue. Recalling her experience in the Aam Aadmi Party, Kakkar said that at one point the party had stated that it would not accept a bungalow or a car, but later helicopters began to be used for private travel.

Kakkar said that the Aam Aadmi Party had once attracted a large number of talented and capable people, but later failed to retain them. She alleged that people were now being brought from Rajasthan and given senior positions in Punjab despite, according to her, having no experience of working even at the booth level. She said she could not continue defending such developments for a long period.

Shyam Sundar Sharma said politics meant hard work, sovereignty, commitment and dedication, and that this outlook existed within the Congress. He said that while other parties spoke about casteism and communalism, the Congress and Rahul Gandhi spoke about humanism.

Rajat Rakesh Tandon said that his family had a longstanding association with the Congress and that the family’s outlook had remained aligned with the party. As a journalist, he said, he had covered the Congress for a long period and had observed during that time that people’s views were heard within the party.

Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Shukla said that Shyam Sundar Sharma had been among the prominent leaders in Uttar Pradesh and had served as an MLA eight times as well as a former minister. He said the joining of Priyanka Kakkar and Rajat Rakesh Tandon would have an impact on politics in Uttar Pradesh and the country.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar