Another Congress legislator in Madhya Pradesh resigned on Thursday and joined the BJP, bringing down the Congress strength in the Assembly to 89.
Stating that the resignation of Mandhata MLA Narayan Patel had been accepted, Vidhan Sabha Pro-tem Speaker Rameshwar Sharma said, “He had given me his resignation on July 22, which I asked him to reconsider. But he appeared before me the next day saying he wanted to stick to his decision.”
On July 17, Nepanagar MLA Sumitra Devi Kasdekar had also resigned and later joined the BJP, days after Congressman Kunwar Pradyumna Singh Lodhi quit as a legislator and switched sides. He was later appointed chairman of the State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd. and accorded a Cabinet rank.
Mr. Patel, the 25th Congress leader to have switched over to the BJP since March, joined the party at its office here in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and party State president V.D. Sharma.
“The Congress is going through a phase of desperation and despair,” said Mr. Chouhan. “During the Congress regime, public representatives were suffocating as development works remained stalled.”
After taking BJP membership, Mr. Patel told reporters he was not upset with anyone. “This is for my people’s progress. I thought about it. I understood that only the BJP can develop the State and the country.”
‘Vested interests’
Questioning MLAs for leaving the Congress, its State spokesman Durgesh Sharma said, “What is the reason that you sell the vote of people like this? You have betrayed them and they will give you a reply. You have resigned from the seat where they elected you. You are rejecting their mandate for your own vested interests.”
Currently, 27 Assembly seats lie vacant in the 230-member house.
