Three Cong leaders, including ex-Jaipur Mayor, join BJP in Raj

Jaipur: In a boost for the BJP ahead of the November 25 Assembly elections in Rajasthan, three senior Congress leaders, including former Jaipur Mayor Jyoti Khandelwal, joined the saffron camp on Saturday.

Besides Khandelwal, who had contested the last Lok Sabha elections on Congress ticket, Chandrashekhar Baid, son of veteran Congress leader Chandanmal Baid, and former MLA Nandlal Poonia too joined the BJP.

Former Jodhpur University Students' Union President Ravindra Singh Bhati also joined the saffron camp on Saturday, along with retired IPS officer Kesar Singh Shekhawat, Bhim Singh Bika, Rajasthan Heritage Promotion Council Vice President Sanwarmal Mahiya, and Hari Singh, an Independent candidate from Mandawa.

Ravindra Singh Bhati has been active in Western Rajasthan for a long time.

The BJP may field Khandelwal as a candidate from Kishanpole.

Khandelwal had been a prominent female face for the Congress in Jaipur. She was in the Sachin Pilot camp and a contender for Congress ticket from Kishanpole.

Speaking to mediapersons at the party headquarters here, BJP's Rajasthan in-charge Arun Singh said: "(Ashok) Gehlot government is going to go. The Chief Minister's statements clearly indicate that his government has failed. The kind of words he used for ED shows his nervousness."