Punjab's ex-Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal joins BJP

New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) Former Finance Minister of Punjab Manpreet Singh Badal joined the BJP on Wednesday here in the presence of Union Minister Piyush Goyal and the party's national General Secretary Tarun Chugh.

Manpreet Singh Badal, the estranged nephew of former Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Prakash Singh Badal, had joined the Congress in January 2016.

Reportedly, Manpreet Singh Badal did not share cordial relations with Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.

In his almost three-decade-long political career, this is the fourth party that he has joined.

While addressing the media after joining the BJP, he said: "I have been in politics for 30 years. I met a 'sher' (lion) a few days a ago and he was the Home Minister of India. He told me that Punjab had been attacked 400 times and that we will do everything for Punjab. This statement touched me as I am always concerned for Punjab and the future of Punjab."

Meanwhile, in his resignation letter addressed to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Manpreet Singh Badal said that "a coterie of men in Delhi is running the affairs in Punjab and this has only increased factionalism".

He further said that his "initial enthusiasm gradually gave way to disillusionment".

"I do not see the point in elaborating extensively on all the proceedings that led to my ultimate and irrevocable disaffection. Suffice it to say that the manner in which the Congress party has conducted its affairs and taken decisions, especially with regard to Punjab, has been disheartening, to say the least," he added in the letter.