A day after quitting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the former Union Minister Birender Singh on Tuesday joined the Congress along with his ex-MLA wife Prem Lata.  Brijendra Singh, the son of Birender Singh, resigned from the Lok Sabha and the BJP and joined the Congress last month.

Birender Singh was welcomed into the party fold at the Congress headquarters in the national capital in the presence of leaders, including Mukul Wasnik, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, State party chief Udai Bhan and other senior leaders Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Kumari Selja, Kiran Chaudhary, Randeep Surjewala and Pawan Khera.

On his return to the Congress, Birender Singh said, “It is not just my 'ghar wapsi' but also 'vichar wapsi'.”

Addressing the gathering at the Congress headquarters, Birender Singh said that his return to the Congress is the “return of the ideology”. “We are here because we have stood stronger with the people of Haryana and they too have supported us. In the last 10 years, you (BJP) did not make anybody your own. I will say that it is not only ‘ghar wapsi’ but ‘vichardhara ki wapsi (return of ideology)’.”

78-year-old Birender Singh is the maternal grandson of the farmer leader Sir Chhotu Ram and had quit the Congress in 2014, after an over four-decade-long stint, to join the BJP. He was Union minister for steel in the first government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also held the charge of rural development, panchayati raj, and drinking water and sanitation.

Welcoming Birender Singh and Prem Lata into the Congress, party leader Mukul Wasnik said, “With their joining, I am sure the Congress will be strengthened in Haryana and help form the Congress government in the state.”

Former CM Hooda said, “With his (Birender Singh) rejoining, he has proved the age-old saying, 'East or West, Home is the best'. He is my elder brother and I am very happy about his return to the Congress fold.” “We need to increase our strength by displaying unity and only then will we be able to save democracy and the Constitution,” Hooda said. It should be mentioned here that in the past, the father-son duo had often defied the BJP’s stand on several issues. In 2020, they sided with the protesting farmers to demand the withdrawal of the now-repealed farm laws. Both leaders expressed solidarity with wrestlers protesting against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over allegations of sexual harassment.

After resigning from the BJP, Brijendra Singh had said that the party’s decision to ally with the Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) was also one of the reasons for his exit. Brijendra had defeated Chautala by more than two lakh votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when the BJP swept the state, winning all 10 seats. However, a few months later in the assembly elections, Dushyant defeated Brijendra’s mother Prem Lata by more than 40,000 votes from Uchana Kalan. Birender Singh resigned from the Upper House in 2020 after Brijendra, a 1998-batch IAS officer who opted for voluntary retirement to enter politics, was elected Hisar MP.