Mgk Menon, 2 Others Join Bjp

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday got a shot in the arm with MGK Menon, Gopinath Gajapati and Swami Indravesh joining the party.

Eminent scientist Menon was handpicked by former Prime Minister VP Singh to head the ministry of science and technology during the shortlived National Front rule. Party president LK Advani claimed Menons induction would boost the partys image.

He asked Menon to help finalise the BJP manifesto.

The induction of Gajpati is likely to complicate matters for former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao if he decides to contest from the Behrampore Lok Sabha constituency.

Gajapati, a former Congressman, represented Behrampore in the ninth and tenth Lok Sabha but left it for Rao in the 1996 elections.

 

Gajapati is a famous personality of his area and a district in Orissa is named after his family, BJP spopkesperson Sushma Swaraj informed. Gajapati claimed he left the Congress because it had lost the ideals for which it stood.

However, he later conceded that the aim behind his decision to shift loyalty was his perception that the BJP represented the mainstream of politics. My electorate wanted me to remain in the mainstream, he said.

Indravesh is the president of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha and represented Rohtak during 1980-85. He gained popularity in Haryana as leader of the prohibition movement. He is certain to become the partys candidate from Rohtak, where the BJPs candidate was placed third in the 1996 elections.

Induction of Gopinath Gajapati and Swami Indravesh to upset poll calculations in Orissa and Haryana