4 Opp MLAs resign from Maharashtra Assembly; Congress leaders to join BJP
Exodus continues from the “leaderless” Congress. After mass resignation of Congress MLAs in Karnataka, four Congress-NCP legislators resigned from Maharashtra Assembly on Tuesday. The major shocker came from Delhi where Rajya Sabha member and a close confidant of Gandhi family, Sanjay Sinh, resigned from the Congress. All the Congress members who quit the party on Tuesday announced to join the BJP.
NCP MLAs Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale (Satara), Vaibhav Pichad (Akole) and Sandeep Naik (Airoli) and Congress MLA Kalidas Kolambkar (Naigaon) handed over their resignation letters separately to Speaker Haribhau Bagade at the Maharashtra legislature building Vidhan Bhawan in south Mumbai. These would be the latest inductions in the BJP ahead of Maharashtra Assembly polls due in just over two months.
Last month Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, then Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, quit the Congress and was inducted into the BJP and made a Cabinet Minister. The NCP too received a jolt last week when its Mumbai unit chief Sachin Ahir joined the ruling coalition partner Shiv Sena.
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP, which recently saw many regional satraps leave the 20-year-old party, bore the maximum brunt of the latest move as three of the four MLAs belonged to it. NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik alleged that Opposition MLAs are “either being lured or threatened to make them join the ruling party”.
Sinh, a Congress member of the Rajya Sabha from Assam, resigned from the Upper House of Parliament and took a dig at the party, saying it is still living in the past and unaware of the future.
Sinh’s wife Ameeta Sinh, who is the chairperson of the All India Professional Congress in UP, has also quit the Congress.
“Congress is rudderless, directionless and there is a distance from the people... I am supporting Modi because of sabka sath sabka vikas,” Sinh said informing the media about his resignation.
BJP may field Sanjay Sinh for the Rajya Sabha poll in the coming weeks. His term was set to end in April, 2020. Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh announced in the House that his resignation has been accepted. Ruling BJP has recently won over a number of Rajya Sabha members from other parties in its bid to bolster its strength in the House where the ruling NDA led by it does not have a majority.
Addressing media, he said that he would join the BJP on Wednesday, the party which he represented once in the Lok Sabha. “Congress is still in the past, unaware of the future. Today, the country is with PM Modi and if the country is with him, I am with him. I will join BJP. I have resigned from the party, as well as my membership of the Rajya Sabha. Congress is unapproachable and unreachable. I have taken this decision after watching this for a long time,” he said.
Sinh wields considerable influence in the Amethi and the BJP hopes that his presence will help it consolidate itself in the region, which also includes Raebareli, the Lok Sabha seat of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. He had unsuccessfully contested the recent Lok Sabha election from Sultanpur against BJP’s Maneka Gandhi.
“Dialogue and communication are the basis of any political party. There is just no scope for any dialogue in Congress. Then there is zero leadership. There is no clarity, nothing can be decided. Over months there is a buzz over whether the Congress president will be a young man or an old man... All these things affected my decision,” he said.