Virendra Raghuvanshi, BJP MLA from Kolaras constituency of Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh, resigned from the primary membership of BJP on Thursday in a jolt to the saffron party ahead of state Assembly elections this year. Sources said Raghuvanshi felt neglected in the party in the last three and a half years.
Raghuvanshi is likely to join Congress on September 2. He is likely to contest against Madhya Pradesh Technical Education Minister Yashodhara Scindia in the upcoming polls.
"In the Gwalior-Chambal division, party workers like me were being ignored by the newly arrived BJP members though we worked dedicatedly for the party in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls," Raghuvanshi said in a letter addressed to MP BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma and released at a press conference in Shivpuri.
Training his guns on Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Raghuvanshi alleged that he was sidelined from the party ever since the Guna MP joined BJP.
"Corrupt officials have been appointed in Kolaras and Shivpuri. It is being done on the behest of Jyotiraditya Scindia. My supporters are being harassed regularly," Raghuvanshi wrote in his letter.
He said when the Congress government collapsed in 2020, Scindia had raised the issue of farmers' loans not being waived as promised.
"But after the formation of the BJP government, Scindia did not even speak about loan waiver," Raghuvanshi further said.
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Last week, BJP leader and a loyalist of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia Samandar Patel joined Congress in the presence of veteran leader Kamal Nath and ex-minister Jitu Patwari.
Patel joined the Congress in a grand style as he reached the Congress headquarters in Bhopal with 5,000 supporters in a convoy of over 1,200 vehicles.
Another Scindia loyalist Raghuraj Singh Dhakad from Kolaras joined the Congress on August 10. BJP leaders Jaipal Singh Yadav and Yaduraj Singh Yadav from Chanderi also joined the grand old party.
Raghuraj Singh Dhakad is a leader of the Dhakad community of Kolaras of Shivpuri and wields considerable influence.
Two more leaders -- Yadvendra Singh Yadav and Baijnath Singh Yadav -- also left BJP and joined Congress recently.
Earlier this month, the ruling BJP announced the first list of its 39 candidates for the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, scheduled to be held later this year.