leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh Assembly Satyadev Katare here on Wednesday criticised retired IAS officer Bhagirath Prasad calling him a “liar and opportunist” as he left the Congress to join BJP.
“Prasad is a liar and opportunist. Just before he joined the BJP, I had asked him about the rumours doing the rounds that he was joining the saffron party. However, he had told me that it was unthinkable for him to move to BJP," Katare told mediapersons here. However, a day after Prasad was given a Congress ticket from Bhind constituency, he joined the BJP, he said.
“It was strange that Prasad had lobbied hard for a Congress ticket from Bhind constituency and yet he deserted the party,” he said. The retired IAS officer had addressed a meeting of the Congress workers in Bhind, a day before he quit the party, Katare further said. Prasad had said that he left the Congress because Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia was opposed to him and had worked for his defeat in the 2009 lok Sabha elections from Bhind.
Notably, Prasad in a big pre-election blow to the Congress, defected to BJP less than 12 hours after the party brass gave him a ticket from Bhind parliamentary constituency. Bhagirath Prasad was the third Congress leader to switch to the BJP in Madhya Pradesh in nine months. In July last year, Congress deputy leader of Opposition Rakesh Singh Chaturvedi defected on the floor of the House just when his party began a discussion on a no-confidence motion against the ruling BJP Government. And, just days before the November assembly polls, Uday Pratap Singh, Congress MP from Hoshangabad, abandoned his party to join BJP.