Published 11:06 IST, March 14th 2020
Tom Vadakkan reviews jump to BJP a year ago; delivers scathing offhand attack on Congress
One year after he joined the BJP, Tom Vadakkan has said that it was a great day in his life as he is now in a party that has a vision and action plan for our Na
One year after he joined the BJP, Tom Vadakkan has said that it was a great day in his life as he is now in a party that has a vision and action plan for our Nation. Taking to Twitter on Saturday, he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister and former BJP chief Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda, National General Secretary BL Santhosh and Ramlal.
A year earlier, in a jolt to the grand-old Congress party ahead of the general elections, Vadakkan had quit the party, citing disappointment with party's stand on the Pulwama attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. “It hurt me deeply when you question the integrity of the armed forces. The matter is not of ideology, this is about patriotism. If a political party takes a position against the country, I had no option but to leave the party,” Vadakkan, who was the national spokesperson of the Congress, had told the media during his induction in the party.
Vadakkan was considered a close aide of interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi. He had reportedly lost his prominence after a Rahul Gandhi took over the party. Reports also said that he was miffed as the party did not give him a ticket to contest an election.
In his first interview after joining the BJP, last year, Vadakkan told Republic TV, "Today, I'm happy to inform you I'm a free man. They've not given me any onerous task". He reiterated what he had said in the press conference of his induction, affirming that the party's questioning of the armed forces in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack and subsequent Indian Air Force strike on Pakistan's terror bases across the Line of Control had been the trigger for his departure from the party.
"Pulwama was an issue I felt about strongly, was told I can't speak anything else than what the script was. My country is more important than belonging to any political party", Vadakkan said.
Updated 11:06 IST, March 14th 2020