Chandigarh: Ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls, former Army chief Gen Joginder Jaswant Singh on Tuesday joined the BJP here in the presence of the party leadership, including Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Shekhawat and Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma welcomed Singh into the party fold here. General J J Singh is the second Army chief after Gen V K Singh who has joined the BJP.
The former army chief had left the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in 2018.
General J J Singh had joined the SAD in 2017 and had unsuccessfully contested against the then Congress leader Amarinder Singh from Patiala during the Assembly elections that year.
J J Singh, who had also served as the governor of Arunachal Pradesh, was the first Sikh to be appointed as the Army chief in 2005.
Ajmer Singh, brother of Akali MLA Sharanjit Dhillon, and former DGP, CRPF, S S Sandhu, who had also served as the IG Jammu and Kashmir, were among those who joined the BJP here on Tuesday.
The BJP is contesting the state Assembly polls in alliance with former chief minister Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Lok Congress and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Ddal (Sanyukt).