In a setback to the ruling BJP in Rajasthan ahead of the next month’s elections, party’s Dausa MP Harish Chandra Meena and Nagaur MLA Habibur Rahman have joined the Congress party.Meena was the Director General of Police in Rajasthan. He had quit the job early to join the BJP in March 2014 in support of Narendra Modi, the then party president. He had won the Dausa seat in 2014 by defeating his nearest rival Dr Kiriroi Lal Meena. Now he has joined the Congress in the presence of former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot and AICC’s state incharge Avinash Pande in Delhi. “I am happy that Harish Meena has decided to join the Congress in such times. I welcome him in the Congress fold,”Gehlot said at a press conference. Pilot and Gehlot said they would contest the December 7 poll along with other senior leaders of the state. “We are all united. It is BJP’s conspiracy to spread false news that the Congress is divided,” Gehlot said. Rahman has returned to the Congress after a decade. He joined the Congress at the party’s office in Jaipur in the presence of Ajmer MP Raghu Sharma and other leaders.

Punjab Police launches massive hunt as SUV is taken at gunpoint

The Punjab police has launched a search in Pathankot after four persons allegedly snatched at gunpoint from the driver a sports utility vehicle they had hired. The district, bordering Pakistan, has been put on high alert after the driver informed the police of the incident that took place on Wednesday night near Madhopur.