26 CONGRESS LEADERS JOIN RULING BJP AHEAD OF ELECTIONS IN HIMACHAL PRADESH

Several Congress leaders joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday, just days before the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections.

With four days to the vote casting, a total of 26 leaders of the grand old party of the Congress quit and joined the ruling BJP. With less than a week until voting, this comes as a huge shock to the Congress party.

In the presence of Chief Minister Jairam Thakur and the BJP's Sudhan Singh, who was in charge of BJP state elections, the Congress leaders abandoned the ship. Sanjay Sood, a BJP candidate from Shimla, was also present.

Among those who joined hands with the BJP are former Congress general secretary Dharampal Thakur, former secretary Akash Saini, former councillor Rajan Thakur, former district vice president Amit Mehta, Mehr Singh Kanwar, Youth Congress president Rahul Negi, Jai Maa Shakti Social Sansthan president Joginder Thakur, Naresh Verma, Chamyana ward member Yogendra Singh, taxi union member Rakesh Chauhan, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage Shimla president Dharmendra Kumar, Virendra Sharma, Rahul Rawat, Sonu Sharma, Arun Kumar, Shivam Kumar, and Gopal Thakur, as per ANI reports.

Along with these leaders, other members who changed their allegiances include Chaman Lal, Devendra Singh, Mahendra Singh, Munish Mandla, who served as the former general secretary of the Youth Congress, Balkrishna Bobby, Sunil Sharma, Surendra Thakur, Sandeep Samta, and Ravi, according to ANI.

In the meantime, Chief Minister Jairam Thakur welcomed all BJP members with open arms.

"Let us work together for the historic victory of the BJP," he said.

Election day in Himachal Pradesh is November 12, and results will be counted on December 8.