AMRITSAR SAHIB—Daljeet Singh Kohli, step brother of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, has officially joined the BJP. He made this announcement during a rally held yesterday in Amritsar led by BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
While welcoming Kohli, a local businessman into the BJP fold, Modi said, “Today, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s brother Daljeet Singh has joined the BJP. This will further strengthen us. We are not a membership party. We form blood relations.”
Kohli had remained apolitical even after his elder brother Manmohan Singh became prime minister in 2004 and got a second term in 2009.
On the other side, Manmohan Singh has expressed grief over his brother joining BJP. On Saturday, he said, “I am saddened by the decision of my younger brother Daljeet Singh Kohli to join BJP. I feel very sad, however I have no control. They are all adults.”
Kohli on Friday joined BJP at a public rally in Amritsar in the presence of the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. The entry of Kohli into the BJP came a day after the Prime Minister rejected perceptions of a ‘Modi wave’ in the country.
Sources from Prime Minister office had reportedly said Dr Singh’s family was “shocked” at the turn of events involving Kohli. “His intentions are not known but he is free to pursue his political career,” they had said, adding the Prime Minister and Kohli have not been keeping in touch since long.
