Shatrughan Sinha, Babul Supriyo, Swami Prasad Maurya — Leaders Who Quit BJP In Recent Years: IN PICS

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrates its 44th foundation day today, here is a look at some of the popular leaders who quit the ruling party in recent years.

Babul Supriyo,Savitri Bai Phule,Shatrughan Sinha,Swami Prasad Maurya,Ashok Kumar Dohrey,kirti azad,BJP,BJP Foundation Day,BJP Foundation Day 2023

Kirtivardhan Bhagwat Jha Azad, a former cricketer, followed the footsteps of his father former Bihar chief minister Bhagwat Jha Azad and entered politics by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The then Darbhanga Lok Sabha MP was suspended from the BJP on December 23, 2015 for openly targeting Union finance minister Arun Jaitley over alleged irregularities and corruption in Delhi’s cricket body Delhi and District Cricket Association. He joined the Indian National Congress on February 18, 2019 and fought from Dhanbad Lok Sabha constituency for 2019 polls. He lost the contest against BJP candidate Pashupati Nath Singh with a margin of 4.8 lakhs. In November 2021, Azad joined the All India Trinamool Congress ahead of the 2022 Goa Legislative Assembly election.

Ashok Kumar Dohrey was elected BJP MP from Etawah (UP) in 2014. He joined the Congress on March 29, 2019. He had quit the BJP saying that the party is grappling with a rising voice of discontent among its MPs belonging to scheduled castes in Uttar Pradesh, as reported by news agency PTI.

Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha was member of Parliament from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency when he quit the BJP after vocally criticising the Modi government. He was denied a ticket by the BJP in 2019 General Election and went on to join the Indian National Congress on April 6, 2019. In March 2022, Sinha joined All India Trinamool Congress and contested in the By-election for the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency where he won by a margin of 303,209 votes.

Savitri Bai Phule began her political career in Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) but later joined the BJP. She was elected from the Baharaich Lok Sabha constituency in 2014 elections from the BJP seat. On December 6, 2018, Phule resigned from the BJP accusing of it "dividing the society and not doing enough on the issue of reservation", as quoted by news agency ANI. She joined Congress in March 2019 in the presence of party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. In December 2019, she tendered her resignation by asserting that her voice is not being heard in the party-fold and said that she will form her own outfit.

Popular playback singer Babul Supriyo joined Bharatiya Janata Party in March 2014. In 2019, he quit the BJP after winning the Asansol assembly seat on a BJP ticket. A vocal critic of the Mamata Banerjee-led government in Bengal, he made a surprise turn by joining the TMC on September 18, 2021. Before joining the TMC, he had made public his discontentment with the BJP and had announced that he would quit politics. He was elected as a Member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Ballygunge Assembly seat on April 16, 2022. He currently handles the Information Technology and Electronics and Tourism portfolios in the Mamata government.

Swami Prasad Maurya, a five-time MLA, began his political innings with the Janta Dal. He then joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 1996. On June 22, 2016, Maurya resigned from all BSP posts alleging "money for ticket" syndicate and joined the BJP. He was serving as the Minister of Labour, Employment in the Uttar Pradesh government when he quit the cabinet post and the BJP to join the Samajwadi Party on January 11, 2022. At that time, it was seen as a huge setback to the ruling party ahead of the UP assembly election. However, he was denied ticket from his stronghold Padrauna and was asked to fight from Fazilnagar, where he subsequently lost.

Udit Raj joined the BJP on February 23, 2014 and was elected as Lok Sabha member from North West Delhi. When he was denied a ticket to contest the 2019 general election, he quit the BJP and joined the Congress, accusing the BJP of being "against the interests of Dalits". The former IRS officer is currently the National Spokesperson of Congress, as per his official website.