New Delhi: CR Kesavan, the great grandson of noted freedom fighter and India’s last governor general C Rajagopalachari, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday. Kesavan, who was in the Congress earlier, joined the party in the presence of Union Minister VK Singh and BJP chief spokesperson Anil Baluni in the national capital. After joining the saffron camp, he heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ushering in a ‘tectonic’ transformation in India with his people-centric policies, and corruption-free and inclusive governance.
CR Kesavan, who hails from Tamil Nadu, said that national security has been given primacy and India’s history and traditions are being celebrated with various events, referring to the recent ‘Kashi-Tamil Samagam’. He also praised the BJP for the ‘deep respects’ it has for the country’s founding fathers and mothers. Kesavan lauded the Modi government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and credited it for India’s rise in global stature.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s corruption free governance and reform led inclusive development agenda have transformed India from a fragile economy to the fifth largest in the world, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, VK Singh cited Rajagopalachari’s contribution to the country and alleged that he was ‘sidelined’ after independence and ‘invisiblised’ from history as ‘one family tried to say they did everything’.
Shri C.R. Kesavan, great-grandson of the last Governor-General of India, C. Rajagopalachari, joins BJP at the Party Headquarters in New Delhi.
Watch full video: https://t.co/yKrZo4dSX8 #JoinBJP pic.twitter.com/0kmuAO5EjG
— BJP (@BJP4India) April 8, 2023
Kesavan will be a strong voice in the BJP and also in the politics of Tamil Nadu, he said.
Kesavan then also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda in Delhi.
Hon. BJP National President Shri @JPNadda Ji welcomed Shri CR Kesavan Ji into the @BJP4India & extended his best wishes to him in the presence of Home Minister Shri @AmitShah Ji. pic.twitter.com/kQrPoRqpwJ
— Office of JP Nadda (@OfficeofJPNadda) April 8, 2023
#WATCH | CR Kesavan, former Congress leader and great-grandson of India’s first Indian Governor-General C Rajagopalachari meets Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda at the latter’s residence in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/RJ07NIzA4F
— ANI (@ANI) April 8, 2023
Kesavan had resigned from Congress in February this year, saying that he has not even seen vestiges of the values that made him work for the party with dedication for over two decades.
In his resignation letter addressed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, he said he could no longer concur with ‘what the party symbolises, stands for or seeks to propagate’.
“I can no longer in clear conscience say that I concur with what party currently symbolises, stands for nor seeks to propagate. This is exactly why I had declined an organisational responsibility at the national level and refrained from participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra,” he had written.
The former Congress leader also thanked Sonia Gandhi for the responsibilities assigned to him saying that he forged cherished friendships in the party that will remain.
CR Kesavan, Anil Antony, Kiran Kumar Reddy joined BJP this week
In the last few days, people from different southern states, where the BJP remains a marginal force, have been inducted into the party.
Anil Antony, the son of veteran Congress leader AK Antony of Kerala, and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, also in the Congress earlier, have joined the saffron party in the past two days.
Their induction comes as the party aims to boost its presence in southern India ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
