Setback to BJP in MP, MLA Raghuwanshi quits party

BHOPAL: In a blow to the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh where Assembly polls are around the corner, its sitting MLA Virendra Raghuwanshi resigned from the party on Thursday accusing Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia of factionalism.

Raghuwanshi is an MLA from the Kolaras Assembly constituency of the Gwalior-Chamabl region which home turf of Scindia.

He is a two-term MLA and was also elected from the Shivpuri constituency.

“Scindia toppled the Congress government claiming it had not waived off farmers’ loans. However, ever since the formation of the BJP government, he has not raised the issue even once”, Raghuwanshi said.

He accused some ministers and officials of being involved in the corruption.

“They are neck-deep in corruption. Rural Development minister Mahendra Singh Sisodia who is also in charge of Shivpuri district has himself said that bribes like offerings in temples, have to be made”, he said.

He alleged that corrupt officials were being posted in the Shivpuri district where his Assembly constituency falls, so they could place obstacles in his development work and harass him and his supporters.

“After forming the government with Scindia’s support, the BJP old-timers are being side-lined or exploited. The ministers who flank Scindia are harassing workers who have been with the party for decades”, the MLA said.

Raghuwanshi also accused Scindia and his supporters who came to the BJP involved in promoting factionalism in the party since then.

“I am resigning from the primary membership of the BJP as well as from the post of the special invitee member in the state working committee”, Raghuwanshi wrote in the resignation letter.

Over the last three and a half years, I put forward my misgivings to the chief minister (Shivraj Singh Chouhan) and the top leadership on a number of occasions, but neither the CM nor the party seniors paid heed to the issues that I flagged, the MLA wrote.

The letter stated that several workers, who joined the party only recently, kept ignoring old cadres in the entire Gwalior-Chambal region.

“This what I got for working with diligence, sincerity, and devotion ahead of the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections”, the letter stated.

Raghuwanshi was with Congress earlier but due to a rift with Scindia, he joined BJP during the 2014 Lok

Sabha elections.