New Delhi: Rahul Singh Lodhi, a Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh, resigned from the party and his membership of the assembly to join the ruling BJP on Sunday, with just days to go for by-polls to 28 vacant seats to be held in the state.
With Lodhi’s resignation, 26 MLAs have quit the Congress in the state since March this year, four of them after July.
“Lodhi has resigned and his resignation was accepted today,” MP assembly’s protem speaker Rameshwar Sharma said.
“He gave his resignation on Friday, but I asked him to rethink over it for two days. He called me last night saying he was firm on it and wanted his resignation to be accepted today as it an auspicious day,” Sharma said.
BJP state spokesman Rajnish Agrawal later said Lodhi has joined his party.
Lodhi represented the Damoh seat in the state assembly.
According to NDTV, Lodhi said in his 14 months with the Congress, he couldn’t work for development. “All the public welfare schemes in Damoh have been put on hold. Today, I have joined BJP willingly. I am sure that Damoh will rise to touch great heights,” he said.
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Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, welcoming Lodhi into the party, said, “After losing hope in Congress, those who want to work for development are leaving that party. Today, Rahul Singh Lodhi has joined the BJP after resigning as the Damoh legislator.”
According to news agency PTI, there are speculations that one more Congress MLA may also quit the party.
The state will have by-elections to 28 assembly seats on November 3. Twenty-five of these seats fell vacant after sitting Congress MLAs resigned and joined the BJP along with Jyotiraditya Scindia, leading to the collapse of the Kamal Nath-led state government.
The other three seats fell vacant due to the death of sitting MLAs.
In the depleted house, the BJP at present has 107 MLAs and needs to win just nine more seats to have a simple majority in the 230-member house.
The Congress’s strength in the house has now been reduced to 87. If it wins all the 28 seats up for byelections, it will still have only 115 members and will require the support of independent MLAs and those from the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.
(With PTI inputs)