Former union minister Akhilesh Das rejoins Cong ahead of polls

Ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, former union minister Akhilesh Das today rejoined the Congress fold in the presence of senior party leaders, claiming it to be his "ghar wapasi".
Das was Minister of Steel in the Manmohan Singh cabinet during UPA-1, and had later quit the Congress to join BSP.
Welcoming him into the party fold, senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said his entry will help the Congress in UP polls, especially the business community in which Das has some support.
"I am confident that with his joining the Congress will benefit and be strengthened. We welcome back former Steel Minister Akhilesh Das. His family has always been with the Congress and aligned to its ideology.

"He will help bring the business community, in the wake of the hardships faced due to demonetisation, back into the Congress fold," Azad said after his joining at the AICC headquarters.
Das, son of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Banarsi Das, has been a former mayor of Lucknow and a three-time Rajya Sabha member. He has been a former Secretary of AICC and later went to on to be general secretary in BSP.

"I am returning to my sacred home and temple. I publicly admit my mistake of leaving the Congress and regret it. It is 'ghar wapasi' for me. I am sure in 2019, Rahul Gandhi will be the Prime Minister and only then will the country progress," he told reporters.

Das, however, did not confirm if he will contest the upcoming UP polls. He has twice been an MP from the Congress and once from the BSP.
Das is also the president of the Badminton Association of India.