Punjab: Cricketer Dinesh Mongia, two Cong MLAs join BJP

New Delhi: Ahead of the Punjab assembly polls early next year, former India team cricketer Dinesh Mongia and Congress MLAs Fateh Singh Bajwa and Balwinder Singh Laddi joined the BJP here on Tuesday.

Bajwa is the MLA from Qadian constituency and the brother of Rajya Sabha MP and former Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa, while Laddi is the legislator from Sri Hargobindpur. They joined the BJP in the presence of the party's state incharge and Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. Besides the two sitting MLAs, former MP Rajdev Singh Khalsa, former MLA Gurtej Singh Ghuriana and United Christian Front of Punjab president Kamal Bakshi were among those who joined the BJP.

These joinings came a day after former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and former Union minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa met the BJP top brass and announced a formal alliance for the assembly polls.

Welcoming the leaders into his party fold, Shekhawat said leaders from other parties are joining the BJP as it is gaining ground in Punjab.

For the past several days, the BJP has been roping in leaders and renowned personalities from Punjab to strengthen its position in the state where it has always been a junior partner in alliance.