The Congress party on Friday said that Rita Bahuguna Joshi's decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would not create an impact.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha M. Mallikarjun Kharge told ANI, "It is very unfortunate why she has left the Congress, and she was with Congress for many years. On personal grounds if she goes, then that is a different thing, but she can't blame Rahul Gandhiji and our Congress party leadership."
"Blaming Rahul Gandhiji is very unfortunate. And, I don't think that she is going to create any impact. Particularly, she is not going to add anything to BJP...She has decided to leave on her personal grounds and people will judge," he added.
Dealing a heavy blow to the Congress Party ahead of next year's assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, the party's former state president Rita Bahuguna Joshi on Thursday formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
She was welcomed to the party by BJP national president Amit Shah.
"My political career has been of 27 years thus far, of which, I spent 24 years with the Congress Party and ten months with the Samajwadi Party. I worked for the Congress with full dedication and honesty for 24 years," she told media after formally joining the BJP at its headquarters here.
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Joshi said, "Sonia Gandhi understands the organisation; she used to listen to us irrespective of whatever decision she took; but under the leadership of Rahulji, even this is not possible (to get your point across). The people of Uttar Pradesh are not ready to accept his leadership, as is the whole country. Even senior Congress leaders are not happy with him. However, the fact is that Rahul Gandhi was unable to provide the kind of leadership that a national party like the Congress needs. The people have rejected his leadership."
She said only the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi could bring about development in Uttar Pradesh.
The daughter of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Joshi served as the U.P. Congress president from 2007-12. She holds an M.A. and a PhD degrees in history and is a professor in the Medieval and Modern History at the University of Allahabad.