New Delhi, December 12: Samajwadi Party MP Rasheed Masood Monday joined the Congress, giving the party another boost in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.
Rasheed’s entry comes two days after the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) led by Ajit Singh sealed an alliance with Congress in the forthcoming assembly polls in the state. The UPA had approved in principle the entry of RLD – which has five Lok Sabha MPs – into the grouping.
Masood, who was a minister in the V.P. Singh government in the early 1990s, will soon be resigning his Rajya Sabha membership, Congress sources said.
Welcoming Masood to the Congress, party general secretary Digvijay Singh said his joining will strengthen the Congress. Masood has a clean and secular image, he added.
Masood said there was an attempt to boost communal politics in the name of the anti-corruption movement.
—-IANS—