Amritsar, Sept. 30 – Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former minister Anil Joshi is set to join the Congress, party sources said Tuesday. The two-time MLA from Amritsar North recently met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal in Delhi and is understood to have conveyed his desire to enter the party.
Joshi, who resigned from the Akali Dal on November 20, 2024, had rejoined it in June this year during the Ludhiana (West) bypoll. He contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar on a SAD ticket but lost.
A seasoned politician, Joshi was elected twice as a BJP MLA from Amritsar North between 2007 and 2017. He served as Punjab’s local bodies and medical education and research minister in the SAD-BJP government from 2012 to 2017.
Joshi was expelled from the BJP in 2021 after openly criticising the party’s handling of the farmers’ agitation. He later joined the SAD, but his frequent shifts have drawn attention in Punjab’s political circles.
His expected entry into the Congress is being seen as part of the party’s broader strategy to strengthen its base in Majha ahead of upcoming elections.
