Ex-Congress minister plans to join BJP

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party has opened its doors for discredited former foreign minister K. Natwar Singh and his legislator son Jagat Singh with an eye on Rajasthan assembly elections.

While Jagat Singh formally joined the party yesterday, Natwar Singh may follow suit after the December 4 elections in the state.

The father-son duo had joined the Bahujan Samaj Party a few moths ago after they were expelled from the Congress party following the controversy over the UN Iraqi Oil for Food scandal preceded by Singh being forced to quit as a federal cabinet minister in December 2005.

Although they were keen on joining the BJP in the first place, that party was reluctant to admit them due to a series of controversies surrounding them.

Jagat joined the BJP in the presence of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in the state capital Jaipur after obtaining the green signal from party's central leadership.

Both Raje and the state unit of the BJP were apprehensive about support of the influential Jat community voters after its Lok Sabha MP Vishvendra Singh defected to the rival Congress party following a dispute over distribution of tickets to his supporters.

Continued support of the Jat community, which constitutes about 22 per cent of the state's total population, is crucial for the BJP in its bid to retain power in the desert state.

Both Vishvendra Singh and Natwar Singh are among prominent Jat community leaders of the state and belong to erstwhile royal families.

"Inclusion of Jagat Singh implies that Natwar Singh is also with us now. It will help us minimise impact of Vishvendra Singh's defection," said a BJP vice-president.

The BJP owes its march to power in Rajasthan in 2003 to the help of the Jat community, which deserted the Congress party after BJP-led federal government included it in the OBC (other backward communities) category for the purpose of reservations in government jobs.