Madhya Pradesh: Another Mega Jolt To Congress As MLA Sumitra Kasdekar Quits Party To Join BJP

Kasdekar submitted her resignation to pro-tem Speaker Rameshwar Sharma in person on Friday afternoon.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan welcomed Kasdekar on joining the BJP. (Image: Twitter/ BJP)

Bhopal: While on one hand the Congress is making all efforts to maintain its government and save MLAs from shifting to Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan, the grand old party in Madhya Pradesh on the other hand continues to fail in retaining its members. The party has faced another mega jolt on Friday as Nepanagar MLA Sumitra Devi Kasdekar resigned from the assembly and joined BJP.  According to the reports, Kasdekar submitted her resignation to pro-tem Speaker Rameshwar Sharma in person on Friday afternoon. Sharma initially gave her some time to reconsider her decision but soon accepted the resignation as she insisted. At a function earlier today, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan welcomed Kasdekar on joining the BJP. According to the reports, state BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma and cooperatives minister Arvind Bhadoria among others were present on the occasion. A PTI report quoted Kasdekar as saying, "I was ignored in the party. No development took place in my tribal constituency during the Congress' 15-months regime. I kept meeting the party leadership and others on the issue of development but in vain, and therefore decided to join the BJP for development of the area." With the latest induction, Bharatiya Janata Party has 107 MLA in the State Assembly while the numbers of Congress party on the other hand has been dropped to 9o.  Also, as many as 26 out of 230 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh are now vacant. On Sunday July 12, Pradhyuman Singh Lodhi, MLA of Bada Malhera Assembly seat in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh, had quit the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Lodhi had resigned from his post of Member of Legislative Assembly as well as his membership from the Congress party early on Saturday. Soon after his resignation, he joined the ruling party BJP in presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP State President Vishnu Dutt Sharma on Sunday. It can be recalled that the Kamal Nath government had dramatically collapsed in Madhya Pradesh in March 2020 after 22 Congress MLAs close to Jyotiraditya Scindia switched sides and joined BJP. Following this, Shivraj Singh Chouhan took oath as state Chief Minister on March 23, for a record fourth term.