The state unit of the Congress party in Jammu  and Kashmir suffered a big blow as one of its senior most leaders from Jammu, Sham Lal Sharma, a former cabinet minister, revolted against the party before joining Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).

Sharma was tipped to join  BJP in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his election rally in Akhnoor but last minute hiccups prevented him from doing so.

Sharma was accorded warm welcome here in the BJP headquarters in Jammu as he arrived there along with large number of supporters.

Labelling Congress as ‘party of sycophants’, former Congress MLA from Akhnoor Assembly segment, Sham Lal Sharma said, “he decided to switch over to the BJP as he no longer wanted to continue as ‘bonded labourer’ in the party”.

Mounting a scathing attack on the leaders of the Congress party for joining hands with the National Conference, Sharma said, “it is an unnatural alliance and it is not at all in the National Interest”.

Chiding Congress leaders, Sharma said on one hand they claim to protect national interest and on the other hand they have joined hands with Kashmir centric, National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party, whose leaders are openly shouting pro-Pakistan and anti-India slogans in election meetings.

Soon after joining BJP, here in the presence of senior BJP leaders Avinash Rai Khanna, former Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta, state unit Chief Ravinder Raina, Dr Nirmal Singh, Sharma said, “i have always fought for political empowerment of Jammu region and BJP, even while remaining in the opposition, played significant role in raising voice of people of Jammu region”. He appealed to the voters across Jammu region to ‘unitedly’ vote for BJP candidates in the Lok Sabha polls and defeat forces who are behaving as sympathisers of the separatists and terror groups.