AMRITSAR: In an embarrassment to Congress, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s step-brother Daljeet Singh Kohli today joined BJP at a public rally here in the presence of the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
The entry of Kohli, a local businessman, into the BJP came a day after the prime minister rejected perceptions of a ‘Modi wave’ in the country. Lok Sabha elections in Punjab are due in one phase on April 30.
Welcoming Kohli into the BJP fold, Modi said he will further strengthen the party.
“Today, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s brother Daljeet Singh has joined BJP. This will further strengthen us. We are not a party which talks of membership but one which forms relations,” the Gujarat Chief Minister said.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, a Lok Sabha candidate from Amritsar, also welcomed Kohli at the rally.
PMO sources said Manmohan Singh’s family was “shocked” at the turn of events involving Kohli. “His intentions are not known but he is free to pursue his political career,” they said, adding the prime minister and Kohli have not been keeping in touch since long.
Prime Minister Singh is the only son and has six sisters while Kohli is his step-brother, the sources said. The prime minister’s mother died at an early age.
Singh yesterday dismissed that there was any ‘Modi wave’ in the country and claimed it was a creation of the media.
“I don’t think there is any Modi wave. It is the creation of the media. The country has not been swept by any Modi wave,” the prime minister told reporters after voting at a polling booth in Guwahati. Kohli later said the Congress party did not give the prime minister “full authority” to run the government.
Kohli also said that he will accept whatever responsibility the party gave him. –PTI
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