AFTER QUITTING CONGRESS, KHERA JOINS BJP WITH ACTOR SHEKHAR SUMAN

NEW DELHI: Former Congress functionary Radhika Khera, who quit the party last Sunday alleging she was tortured by her colleagues after visiting Ram temple, and actor Shekhar Suman joined BJP Tuesday.

Khera, former national coordinator of Congress' media department, resigned from the party's membership Sunday, days after her altercation with another functionary at the party's Chhattisgarh office. In her resignation letter to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Khera said she was facing opposition in the party for her visit to Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Congress media and publicity department chairman, Pawan Khera, however, rejected the claims. He responded to questions at a presser with a counter question citing examples of Congress candidates Deepender Hooda and Vikramaditya Singh who had visited Ram temple and are in the poll battle. "The entire UP Congress committee... my colleagues Supriya Shirnate... Ajay Rai and Avinash Pandey, they all have gone to the Ram Mandir. Did we turn them all out of Congress? Can anyone stop someone from going to a temple?"

For Suman, it will be his second stint in politics after resigning from Cong in 2012.