Congress party in Madhya Pradesh continues to witness shifting of loyalties by its MLAs, as on Thursday, another Congress legislator from Mandhata Narayan Patel resigned from the Assembly.
Patel joined the BJP late in the evening in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. With Patel's departure, the number of Congress MLAs who resigned has risen to 25. Total 22 had left the party under Jyotiraditya Scindia in March this year.
Patel handed over his resignation to Protem speaker Rameshwar Sharma on Thursday.
Recently Bada Malhera MLA Pradyumn Singh Lodhi and Nepanagar MLA Sumitra Devi Kasdekar too had left, resigning from Assembly. With the persistent exodus, the Congress party strength in state assembly has been reduced to 89.
"The BJP is on a spree to buy MLAs and they are investing public money for this," said Congress spokesperson Bhupendra Gupta alleging soon the mafia and corporates will join the nexus.
When asked as why BJP is behaving like a magnet for Congress MLAs, BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal claimed that it is a query which should be directed to those leaving the Congress party and the opposition also needs to introspect on this. "Our party respects our leaders and workers," added Agrawal.
Meanwhile, early on the day, former BJP minister KL Agrawal joined Congress party in the presence of senior leader Digvijay Singh in Bhopal. He made it clear that the party could opt for anyone in assembly polls but he
has a sole aim of defeating Mahendra Singh Sisodia who joined BJP recently.
Accepting that he was feeling ignored in BJP, Agrawal alleged that 'saleable items' left with Jyotiraditya Scindia. Over 400 of his supporters also joined with him.