New Delhi, March 21: Veteran Congress leader from Uttarakhand Satpal Maharaj today joined the BJP, giving not only a shock to the party but also putting the state government headed by chief minister Harish Rawat in danger.

Maharaj, a diehard opponent of Rawat, was upset after the Congress high command decided to remove Vijay Bahuguna as the chief minister to give the reins to Rawat. He said today he felt “hurt and suffocated” in the Congress.

Maharaj, who is a spiritual leader with considerable following, can destabilise the Rawat government as at least seven MLAs are said to be his supporters.

Rawat government survives on the support of Independent MLAs and Maharaj’s wife Amrita Rawat is a cabinet minister in his government.

But the destabilisation game may play itself out later as the MLAs supporting him will have to resign first as the anti-defection law has made changing sides extremely difficult.

Maharaj alleged that Congress had ignored the plight of victims of last year’s natural tragedy in the state.        

“Due to the slipshod approach of the Congress, the development of Uttarakhand as envisioned by statehood agitationists still remains an unaccomplished task which is an injustice to the people of the hill state,” the Pauri Garhwal MP said, adding: “All records of price rise and corruption have been broken”.

The leader said he wanted Narendra Modi to become the Prime Minister as a strong leadership was the need of the hour for the country.

Maharaj said he sent his resignation to Sonia Gandhi as he felt “hurt, neglected and suffocated in the Congress party”.

The MP said he had joined the BJP unconditionally for the development of the country and vowed to campaign throughout the country to help it achieve the target of winning 272 seats in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Welcoming Maharaj into the party, BJP president Rajnath Singh said in Delhi that his presence would strengthen BJP further, adding that it indicated people’s faith in Modi’s leadership and frustration with the current regime.