Ramdayal Uike, the working president of Congress unit in election bound Chhattisgarh and MLA from Pali-Tanakhar rejoined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday after a 15-year stint in the grand old party.
A tribal leader from the Bilaspur region, Uike joined the BJP in the presence of BJP president Amit Shah and chief minister Raman Singh and accused the Congress of ignoring interests of tribals.
“Tribal leaders are neglected and not favoured in the Congress. There is a difference in what they say and what they do,” Uike said.
“Congress has neglected interest of tribals, backward and poor people and I am sad since I am tribal leader. Chief Minister Raman Singh has been making efforts for overall development of tribals and backward people and his development oriented policies have impressed me to rejoin my old party,” Uike said describing his move as “ghar-wapsi”.
He also said that he was feeling suffocated in Congress.
“Congress is bogged down in the CD case and it seems that senior leader of Delhi are instructing Congress state president Bhupesh Baghel to get involved in CDs,” said Uike in a press conference.
{{/usCountry}}“Congress is bogged down in the CD case and it seems that senior leader of Delhi are instructing Congress state president Bhupesh Baghel to get involved in CDs,” said Uike in a press conference.
{{/usCountry}}The reference was to Chhattisgarh Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel, an accused in a case involving the circulation of a “sex CD” purportedly featuring a state BJP minister.
Uike had joined the Congress in 2000 from the BJP and had vacated the Marwahi seat to facilitate the entry of Ajit Jogi in Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly after he was sworn-in as first Chief Minister of the state.
Asked about contesting the upcoming election, he said he would follow the party leadership’s directions in this regard. Elections to the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly would be held in two phases on November 12 and November 20.
The Congress put up a brave face, insisting that there are other leaders to replace Uike.
“The retuned back to BJP due to the same reasons he came to Congress with the help of Ajit Jogi. Till yesterday, he was with very active in Congress which suggests that a conspiracy took place last night. We are nowhere in loss even after his exit because we have other options,” said Congress spokesperson Sailesh Nitin Trivedi.
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