Former Mumbai Congress president and minister of state for home, Kripa Shankar Singh, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after lying low for about two years since quitting the century-old party, saying he did not agree with its stand to oppose abrogation of Article 370.

Singh was welcomed in the BJP on Wednesday in the presence of former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil, former Congress leader and BJP’s Allahabad MP Rita Bahuguna. The induction happened at the birth anniversary function of the founder president of Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the predecessor to the BJP, late Syama Prasad Mookerjee, who launched the party’s agitation for abrogation of Article 370 many decades ago, and died in state custody during one such agitation in Srinagar.