Rita Bahuguna Joshi

Rita Bahuguna Joshi joined the BJP

Setback for Congress, Rita Bahuguna Joshi joins BJP

NEW DELHI:, former Uttar Pradesh Congress chief and a prominent Brahmin face in the party's state unit, joined the BJP on Thursday.in presence of party chief Amit Shah "This was a difficult decision. I have served Congress for 24 years. I have taken this decision for benefit of the nation," Rita Bahuguna Joshi said after jointing the BJP.Joshi said she was hurt when the Congress party questioned the Army's surgical strikes on terror camps across the Line of Control. "When the whole world has accepted that we carried out the surgical strikes, I didn’t like it when Congress and other parties questioned it," she said.She also hit out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his 'Khoon ki dalali" remark.Though Bahuguna is not seen as a major force, her induction in the BJP will undercut Congress's Brahmin outreach that has seen the party project former Delhi chief minister Shiela Dikshit as its chief ministerial nominee.Brahmins, estimated to constitute around 14% of the electorate, are seen as an important vote bank in UP where BJP, Samajwadi Party and BSP seem locked in a close contest for the assembly polls due next year.Joshi has been indifferent to the party activities in the past few days, mainly during the much-hyped Kisan Yatra of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.Her brother and former Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna , who had revolted against Congress and joined BJP in May, had said she (Joshi) and other like-minded leaders were welcome in the saffron party.Bahuguna had parted ways from Congress after revolting against the Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand.