Congress leader and former Union minister Jitin Prasada, who joined the BJP on Wednesday, has said there was no point being in a party "if you cannot help the people".

"If you cannot be of any help to people and protect their interests, then what’s the point? I felt I couldn’t do that in the Congress," he said.

Jitin Prasada said if there was one party in the country that talks in the national interest, then it is the BJP. "If anyone standing with the country and its people in these testing times, then it’s BJP and PM Modi. Others have become regional parties," he said.

"I’d heard this would be a deciding decade for India. PM Modi is working hard in the service of this country. We’ve faced challenges and public had distanced itself from us," Prasada said.

"I look forward to the representation I get to play in the formation of ‘New India’," he added.