PM's brother joins BJP in Amritsar

In a move likely to embarrass the Congress, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's half-brother, Daljeet Singh Kohli, Friday joined the BJP in the presence of its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Kohli, a businessman based here, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when Modi came here to address a rally in favour of senior party leader Arun Jaitley, who is contesting from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.

At the rally held here, Kohli shared the dais with Modi and other senior BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal leaders.

"Today, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's brother Daljeet Singh has joined the BJP. This will further strengthen us. We are not a membership party. We form blood relations," Modi said while welcoming Kohli into the BJP fold.

Kohli was also welcomed into the BJP by Jaitley and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

The BJP and the Akali Dal are ruling partners in Punjab, as well as the constituents of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

Kohli had remained apolitical even after his elder brother Manmohan Singh became prime minister in 2004 and got a second term in 2009.

Manmohan Singh had studied in Amritsar after his father's family migrated here from western Punjab in Pakistan following the partition in August 1947.