Vadodara: Ahead of the civic polls in the city, prominent leaders from the city joined the Congress party on the sidelines of the visit of Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.Those who joined the Congress include former BJP councillors whose terms ended recently. The list included Ashish Joshi, who was suspended from the BJP and has been opposing it very vocally. Besides Joshi, the woman BJP councillor from his ward, Parul Patel, also joined the Congress. Swejal Vyas, who earlier dabbled with politics by being a part of Aam Aadmi Party and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, also joined the Congress. Vyas earlier declared that he would contest the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) polls as an independent. Deepa Srivastava, daughter of former MLA Madhu Srivastava who had quit the BJP after being denied an assembly ticket, also joined the Congress. Former Bhayli sarpanch Darpan Patel, vice-president of Nationalist Congress Party Nilesh Patel, and Karni Sena activist Mahendrasinh Rathod were also on the list.
