Big Jolt to BJP

New Delhi, January 22: Here is the big jolt for Ruling party BJP as Former Gujarat BJP minister Bimal Shah joined the opposition Congress Monday, claiming the saffron outfit has turned into a "power-oriented party".

From this aspect, Speculation is rife that he has joined the Congress with a hope to get a ticket from the Kheda Lok Sabha seat as former MP and party veteran Dinsha Patel has already withdrawn his name from contention.

Coming to details, Along with Shah, another BJP leader Anil Patel, a former Congress MLA who had crossed over to the ruling outfit after the 2007 polls, also joined the main opposition party.

This major development comes just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and is being seen as a sort of boost for the Congress, which drew a blank in Gujarat in the 2014 general elections.

The two were inducted into the Congress at a function held at state Congress headquarters here in the presence of key party leaders such as Ahmed Patel and GPCC president Amit Chavda.It is known news that, Shah was elected to the assembly from Kapadvanj in Kheda district in 1998 and again in 2002.

The 57-year-old had served as the Minister of State for Transport in 1998, when Keshubhai Patel was chief minister.

Shah, however, lost in the 2007 assembly polls. In the 2017 elections, he entered the arena as an Independent but suffered defeat.