In a setback to the Congress 11 days ahead of polling day in Madhya Pradesh, Hoshangabad MP Uday Pratap Singh on Thursday left the Congress and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with his supporters alleging massive corruption in ticket distribution.
Singh joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and State BJP chief Narendra Singh Tomar. While talking to mediapersons, he said, “I am quite pleased to join a party that upholds ‘Rajdharma’. I hope that I would be able to serve people better by joining the BJP.”
A one-time close ally of former Union Minister Suresh Pachouri, Singh leveled serious charges against Congress leaders over distributing tickets by taking money. He said that feudal are ruling the roast in the party. “Congress leader Manak Agrawal has openly accused Pachouri of distributing tickets by taking money. Similar charges have been leveled against him earlier also,” he claimed. However, the Chief Minister, the State BJP chief and Singh did not take up queries from the media on the occasion.
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary in-charge for the State Mohan Prakash while talking to the mediapersons in the State capital said that Uday Pratap Singh was seeking Assembly ticket for himself but as per the policy of the party MPs were not to be fielded in the Assembly elections. Singh got annoyed with the party guideline that could not be changed for a person and without talking to the party leadership decided to join BJP, he added.