Religious leader Computer Baba here on Friday declared to support the Congress party in the November 28 Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.
Notably, Computer Baba was one of the saints who was accorded status of State minister. Later, he had quit the post alleging that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan did not fulfill his promises to safeguard the holy Narmada river.
This decision of Computer Baba is being considered a radical change in the political stand of Swami Namdev Tyagi, known as Computer Baba, who had been anointed as a minister of State by the BJP government.
Computer Baba had organised Rs Narmade Sansad', a gathering of like-minded religious leaders from various states including Uttar Pradesh, here Friday to decide which party they should support in the polls. "The saints will support the Congress," he said at the gathering.
"When we can give fifteen years to them (the Bharatiya Janata Party), then we can surely give five years to Congress," he said, adding if Congress upholds dharma, we will go with them in future or else we will withdraw the support.
In April, the BJP government in the state accorded him the status of Minister of State along with five others by appointing him on a committee for conservation of the river Narmada. Before that, he had announced a Rs yatra' (procession) to expose illegal sand mining in the Narmada.
He resigned in October, accusing Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of being a hypocrite and not fulfilling the promises made to him. The BJP government did little to stop illegal mining in the river, he alleged.