Rajasthan BJP MLA Habibur Rahman joins Congress

In a setback to Rajasthan's ruling BJP ahead of the December 7 Assembly elections, the party's Nagaur MLA Habibur Rahman on Wednesday returned to the Congress after a decade.

Rahman joined the Congress at the party's office in Jaipur in presence of Ajmer MP Raghu Sharma and other leaders, the same day BJP's Dausa MP Harish Chandra Meena joined the grand old party in New Delhi.

Rahman was initially a member of the Congress and was a state minister between 2001 and 2003 during the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government. He joined the BJP in 2008 after he was denied a ticket by the Congress.

He won the 2008 and the 2013 Assembly elections as BJP candidate. But when the BJP denied him poll ticket this time and gave nomination to Mohan Ram Choudhary from Nagaur, Rahman left the ruling party.

"I have returned home today. There is no condition for joining the party," he said at a press conference.

On whether he will contest the Assembly elections, Rahman rhetorically asked, "Who does not want to contest elections?"
Hitting back, Congress' Raghu Sharma said, "Kirori Meena's wife Golma Devi was a minister in the previous Congress government. He contested the 2013 assembly polls as the candidate of National People's party and then joined the BJP. He became Rajya Sabha MP and now his wife was given ticket by BJP in its first list. He is the finest example of opportunist."