Soon after his Congress colleague Jitin Prasada quit the party to join the BJP, Milind Deora on Wednesday said the Congress must reclaim its position as India's big tent party and asserted that it still has a strong bench which, if empowered and optimally utilised, can deliver.
A former chief of the Mumbai Congress, Deora, however, wished that several of his friends, peers and valued colleagues hadn't left the party.
Congress leader Prasada joined the BJP on Wednesday, in a shot in the arm for the saffron party as it prepares for assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh scheduled for early next year.
He joined the BJP in the presence of Union minister Piyush Goyal and its chief spokesperson Anil Baluni.