Former Cong MP Somaji Damor joins BJP

Ahmedabad: Former Congress and veteran tribal leader Somaji Damor on Wednesday joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Dahod in Gujarat.

Congress spokesperson Arjun Modhvadia said Damor was currently not with the party as he had quit when he was denied the party ticket in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

“He was Congress MP on seven occasions but in 2004, when he was denied ticket, he contested the polls as an independent and lost,” he added.

“Subsequently, he joined Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and had asked for a Congress ticket during the last assembly polls," Modhvadia said, adding the party never took him back.

Damor had won from Dahod reserved seat in seven consecutive elections till 1999.

According to sources, he is trying to get BJP ticket from Dahod where the party is yet to declare its candidate.

In 2004, BJP's Babu Katara had won the seat but he was disqualified as MP by the Lok Sabha speaker and expelled from the BJP after he was caught in an alleged human trafficking scam at Delhi international airport.