Political defection of Indian netas in recent past
Senior Congress leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi resigned from the membership of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly and joined BJP, but Joshi is not the only politician who has switched sides. Here is the state-wise list of Congress leaders who have migrated to BJP after May 2014.
Senior Congress leader and member of the state Assembly Rita Bahuguna Joshi resigned from the membership of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, as well as the party and joined BJP on Thursday.
Former Uttar Pradesh Congress President Rita Bahuguna Joshi's- a prominent Brahmin face- joining the Bhartiya Janta Party was imminent as she was reportedly miffed over being overlooked by the Congress for the CM job. The Congress in the hope of wooing its old Brahmin votebank projected the three-time Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit as the party's chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh.
READ: Rita Bahuguna Joshi, ex-UP Congress chief, joins BJP; says Rahul doesn't listen
While, Rita Bahuguna cited Congress's questioning over surgical strike as the reason for leaving the party, but the real reason for her desertion seems the choice of an "outsider" as the chief ministerial candidate and the fear that she may not be able to keep her Lucknow (Cantonment) Assembly seat on a Congress ticket.
Joshi was said to have been quite upset with the party for the way she was treated. While she was roughing it out and keeping the Congress flag flying in UP against all odds, when the time came, Dikshit was chosen as the party's CM face.
But Joshi is not the only politician who has switched sides. Here is the state-wise list of Congress leaders who have migrated to BJP after May 2014.
ASSAM
- Tarun Gogoi's ex-confidante Himanta Biswa Sarma joined BJP on August 29, 2015.
- 9 Congress MLAs had joined BJP on November 7, 2015. Nine MLAs are: Jayanta Mallah Baruah, Pijush Hazarika, Pallab Lochan Das, Pradan Barua, Abu Taher Bepari, Kripanath Mallah, Rajen Borthakur, Binanda Kumar Saikia and Bolin Chetia.
- On December 21, 2015 Assam Assembly Speaker Pranab Kumar Gogoi disqualified 9 rebel Congress MLAs from the House membership with immediate effect for joining BJP.
- A Congress MLA from Assam- Mansingh Rongpi- in July, 2016 resigned from Assam Assembly as well as from the Congress party as he planned to join the ruling BJP party.
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
Former Arunachal Pradesh CM and Congress leader Pema Khandu took a U-turn when he along 42 other Congress lawmakers had joined the regional People's Party of Arunachal, which is an ally of the BJP. In an Assembly of 60 members, the Congress had 44 lawmakers and 11 members are from the BJP. Two independent lawmakers who supported the Congress have also joined the People's Party.
DELHI
- Buta Singh's son Arvinder Singh Lovely joined BJP on January 13, 2015.
- On January 19 2015, Krishna Tirath formally joined the BJP. She contested from Patel Nagar (Delhi Assembly constituency) as a BJP candidate for the Delhi Legislative Assembly election, 2015 and was defeated by Hazari Lal Chauhan of AAP by a margin of 34,638 votes.
KARNATAKA
- Prominent Congress leader and former Belagavi MP Amarsinh Vasantarao Patil joined BJP in April, 2016.
MANIPUR
- Manipur Congress MLA and senior legislator Yumkham Erabot formally joined the BJP on September 12.
- On September 20, 2016 two Congressmen Sapam Ranjan Singh and Laishram Radhakishore Singh joined BJP. Heikham Dingo Singh from Sekmai constituency, who contested the Assembly polls on a Trinamul ticket, also joined the BJP.
- Former Congress MLA and party vice-president Kh Loken Singh joined the saffron party along with his supporters on 14 October, 2016.
- Two former Congress legislators join BJP in Manipur on 17 Oct, 2016. Former irrigation and flood control minister Nongthombam Biren, who was elected three times in a trot from the Heingang constituency, and former rural development minister Francis Ngajokpa, who was elected twice on a Congress ticket from Tadubi constituency and held various ministerial portfolios, were the two leaders who joined the opposition party.
MADHYA PRADESH
- Congress party leader Shivkumar Urmalia today joined BJP on October 3, 2016. Urmalia had served as vice-president of Madhya Pradesh Congress. He also unsuccessfully contested from Govindpura assembly constituency in Bhopal against Gaur in 2003.
WEST BENGAL
- Since May 2016, five MLAs of Congress, including former PCC President Manas Bhunia and one from CPI(M) have switched over to TMC, bringing down the Opposition tally from 76 to 70 in the 294-member House.
ODISHA
- Veteran Congress Leader Giridhar Gamang Joined BJP on June 18, 2015.
- Nitesh Gangdev, who had joined the BJP days before the polls, won the Deogarh Assembly seat over BJD's Anita Pradhan. Former Minister Duryodhan Majhi, who quit the BJD and joined the BJP ahead of the polls, defeated Congress's Adhiraj Mohan Panigrahi in the Khariar constituency.
UTTAR PRADESH
- 3 Congress' MLAs Sanjay Pratap Jaiswal, Vijay Kumar Dubey and Madhuri Verma joined BJP on 11 August, 2016.
- Congress MLA Pradeep Chowdhury joined BJP on 26 August, 2016.
UTTARAKHAND
- Former Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna along eight other rebel MLAs of the Congress joined the BJP on May 19 this year.
Apart from many Congress leaders joining BJP, netas from other parties have also joined BJP after May 2014.
- Brajesh Pathak - From BSP - Senior leader, Brahmin face - August 2016
- Swami Prasad Maurya - From BSP- Senior leader, OBC face - August 2016
- Jugal Kishor - From BSP- Founder member, Former MP - January 2016
- Kiran Bedi - From activism- shared Anna's movement with Kejriwal - January 2015
- Shazia Ilmi - From AAP- Senior leader, Founder member - January 2015
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