Gandhinagar, Aug 17 (TIWN) Senior Gujarat Congress leaders Naresh Raval and Raju Parmar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday.

Both the leaders were associated with the Congress for decades.  State BJP chief C R Paatil welcomed them into the party by offering them saffron scarves and caps. A large number of their supporters also joined the ruling party.  Mr Parmar was Congress's Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat for three terms - between 1988 and 2006. A prominent leader from the Dalit community, he had also served as a member of the National Committee for SC/ST.