Former Mohla-Manpur legislator Shivraj Singh Usare on Friday left the Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Chief Minister Raman Singh.
Considered to be close to former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi, Usare was believed to be upset after the denial of party ticket in the last Assembly election held in November last year.Sources said Usare was in touch with Raman Singh for the past several months and formally joined the BJP on Friday. After joining the party, Usare participated in a rally organised on the occasion of the filing of nomination by former lok Sabha member and BJP candidate for Raipur lok Sabha seat Ramesh Bais.
Usare will campaign for Abhishek Singh, son of Chief Minister Raman Singh, in Rajnandgaon. The BJP leaders feel the joining of Usare will help their party strengthen its base in Mohla-Manpur area which comes under Rajnandgaon parliamentary seat. The BJP had won 10 out of the State’s total 11 lok Sabha seats in the last parliamentary polls in 2009.According to recent opinion polls, the BJP will get eight seats while three seats will go to the Congress. Chhattisgarh goes to the polls in three phases, on April 10, 17 and 24.