Former JJP leaders Anoop Dhanak, Ram Kumar Gautam and Jogi Ram Sihag join BJP

Chandigarh: Former Jannayak Janta Party leaders Anoop Dhanak, Ram Kumar Gautam and Jogi Ram Sihag, who had recently quit the party, joined the BJP on Sunday, giving a boost to the ruling party in Haryana ahead of the legislative assembly by-election on October 5.

The three party leaders, along with Ambala Mayor Shakti Rani Sharma, were inducted into the ranks of the BJP at a rally in Jind by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, party state president Mohan Lal Badoli and joint commissioner for Haryana affairs Biplab Kumar Deb.

Sharma is the wife of Haryana Janchetna Party chief and former Union minister Venod Sharma. Her son and independent Rajya Sabha member Kartikeya Sharma was also present at the Jind event.

Dhanak, Gautam and Sihag were MLAs of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) when they left the party.

Gautam, who was previously with the BJP, represented the Narnaund constituency in the Haryana Assembly after winning the seat on the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) ticket in 2019. However, he did not get a ministerial berth in the BJP-JJP coalition government and was also a vocal critic of former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on various issues.

Anoop Dhanak, a former minister, was a member of parliament from Uklana, while Jogi Ram Sihag represented Barwala section in the assembly.

Recently, Jogi Ram Sihag, Ram Niwas Surjakhera, Ram Kumar Gautam and Anoop Dhanak supported the candidature of BJP leader Kiran Choudhry for the Rajya Sabha by-election in Haryana. Kiran was elected unopposed to the Upper House of Parliament.

Notably, Surjakhera was also expected to join the BJP at the rally in Jind but was not seen at the event. A few days ago, he was arrested by the Jind police on rape charges based on a woman's allegations against him.

Surjakhera dismissed the allegations as “conspiracies” against him in the run-up to the parliamentary elections.