Patna,(BiharTimes): Former Union home secretary, Raj Kumar Singh, who was offered the post of infrastructure advisor to the chief minister, Nitish Kumar, on Friday evening joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi in the presence of the party’s national president, Rajnath Singh.

Singh said that he decided to join politics because he wanted to carry forward his commitment to serve society.
His decision to join the BJP is seen as a major jolt to chief minister Nitish Kumar, as he wanted him to join as adviser (infrastructure). This post was created through cabinet approval. There was also a plan to field Singh on a Janata Dal (United) ticket in the coming general elections.

Talking to the media he said he shares BJP’s hardline orientation on issues of national security. BJP and its other associates like RSS never compromise on this. Other parties tend to compromise due to their vote banks.

It needs to be recalled that Singh had, when he was the home secretary, talked about the alleged involvement of people associated with RSS and its affiliates in terror activities,

However, on Friday he denied having made the controversial “saffron terror” remarks. Instead he blamed home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for this and said he always maintained terror was neither saffron nor green.

Singh also made it clear that he did not want to stand with someone, who, he believes is going soft on terrorism and Naxalites. The chief minister new-found love for the Congress, particularly after he parted ways with the BJP, also baffled him because the Congress has become an epitome of corruption.
Singh is from Bihar and is likely to be pitted as party’s candidate from Supaul, from where he originally belongs.

Besides him, Sunil Shastri, son of former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, former petroleum secretary Raghav Sharan Pandey (who is also from Bihar) and retired railways official Dharam Singh joined the party.

Welcoming them into the party fold Rajnath Singh said people who have served the country with distinction have decided to do their bit when it is in trouble. It is just the begining. Many more such people would join BJP in days to come.