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Satpal Mallik to rejoin Congress, Ajit Singh, Rashid Masood likely to follow suit

Former Union minister Satpal Mallik has said he is joining the Congress along with his supporters but a formal announcement in the regard was being withheld since state Congress president Salman Khursheed could not make it to the AICC headquarters.

Mallik, who was a minister in the V P Singh government, said people were sick and tired of both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the parties which constituted the Third Front. The Congress needs to be strengthened in Uttar Pradesh and he would do his best in this direction, he said.

Mallik, who had left the Congress along with V P Singh in the late '80s said it was like a homecoming for him. After quitting the Janata Dal he was briefly with Mulayam Singh and Ajit Singh.

Sources said both Ajit Singh and former Union minister Rashid Masood are also holding discussions with the congress leadership.

Mallik had arrived in New Delhi along with his supporters to join the Congress and they were disappointed when a formal announcement about the former minister's entry could not be made.

Earlier, talking to newspersons, Congress spokesperson Girija Vyas said the BJP was only shedding crocodile tears for the minorities and at the same time the other components of the Sangh Parivar were busy organising attacks on them in Karnataka and Maharastra. The Parivar assumes different names like the Hindu Jagran Vedike in Karnataka and Dharam Raksha Samiti in Maharashtra while indulging in attacks on minorities.

UNI

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