Cricketer-turned-MP Kirti Azad joins Congress in the presence of Rahul Gandhi

Shifting base among politicians is not something new to see in India, especially ahead of a national election. Suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad is also no exception as he joined the Indian National Congress on Monday in the presence of party president Rahul Gandhi. The 60-year-old cricketer-turned-politician from Bihar was supposed to complete the formalities last week but the event was postponed in the wake of killings of over 40 CRPF jawans in a suicide terror attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Azad was one of the members of India’s World Cup-winning team of 1983 captained by Kapil Dev. He was in the BJP for over three decades and became MP from Darbhanga, Bihar, three times. He was suspended from the BJP in 2015 for taking on Union minister Arun Jaitley over alleged corruption in Delhi’s cricket body DDCA when it was headed by him.

Kirti, who played seven Tests and 25 ODIs between 1980-86 scoring 404 runs and picking 10 wickets, also spoke out against the BJP’s leadership long before his suspension. He even said that he was “stabbed in the back” and was extended support by the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress. Kirti tweeted about his formally joining the Congress and also said that he felicitated him in “traditional Mithila style”.

आज सुबह कांग्रेस के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष श्री @RahulGandhi जी ने मुझे कांग्रेस की सदस्यता ग्रहण कराई मैंने मिथिला की परंपरा में उनको मखाना की माला, पाग, चादर से सम्मानित किया।
Today in front of Shri Rahul Gandhi I joined the Congress I felicitated him in traditional Mithila style pic.twitter.com/B9DQwCM207

— Kirti Azad (@KirtiAzadMP) February 18, 2019

He has tweeted on February 15 announcing that his joining in the Congress would take place on February 18 because of the Pulwama tragedy as a mark of mourning for the martyred soldiers.

Met @RahulGandhi ji it was rightly decided that in mark of respect to the martyred soldiers of Pulwama my joining the @INCIndia will now take place on 18th February we will be in state of mourning for 3 days country is bigger than a person or party and soldiers are supreme Ameen

— Kirti Azad (@KirtiAzadMP) February 15, 2019

Kirti Azad was elected from Darbhanga thrice

Azad, son of former Congress chief minister of Bihar, Bhagwat Jha Azad (1988-89), was earlier an MLA in Delhi besides he came back to Darbhanga from where he was elected in 1999, 2009 and 2014. NDTV cited sources as saying that the Congress may be inclined to field Kirti from Delhi in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

Kirti is not the only cricketer-turned-politician to shift party base in recent times. In 2017, former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu joined the Congress ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections. He had called himself a “born Congressman” on that occasion.

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