Leaders who quit Congress before Lok Sabha elections – Firstpost

The Congress finds itself in a delicate situation amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The discontent of its various leaders is obvious. Arvinder Singh Lovely’s resignation as Delhi Pradesh Congress chief has brought divisions within the party unit in the national capital into the spotlight. Although Lovely has claimed that he will stay in the Congress, there are rumors that he may join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

On Monday (April 29), the Madhya Pradesh Congress unit suffered a major blow when its Indore candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination and joined the BJP. Senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya broke the news on JP Nadda and Chief Minister (MP) Mohan Yadav. and State President VD Sharma.”

Bam’s departure is one of a series of departures Congress has faced this year. From Milind Deora to Ashok Chavan, here are the top leaders who left the Grand Old Party in 2024.

Milind Deora

Milind Deora quit the Congress in January to join the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. He accused the Grand Old Party of not giving “importance to merit” and of “mistreating industrialists and businessmen.”

Deora, who was considered a close aide of former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, ended his family’s 55-year ties with the party with his departure.

The Congress accused the BJP of orchestrating Deora’s exit to divert attention from the party’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

After Deora, former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique also quit the Congress.

Ashok Chavan

Former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan’s exit from the party took place on February 12. A day later, he joined the BJP in the presence of deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and his Maharashtra unit chief Chandrakant Bawankule.

Chavan was sent to the Rajya Sabha by the saffron party in the same month.

He became the ninth former Congress CM to quit the Grand Old Party in the last 10 years, joining Amarinder Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, late Ajit Jogi, SM Krishna, Narayan Rane, Vijay Bahuguna and Giridhar Gamang.

Former Odisha CM Gamang returned to the Congress in January this year after quitting the party in 2015.

The BJP is banking on Chavan to swing the polls in the party’s favor in its home turf of Nanded in the Marathwada region.

Naveen Jindal

In March, industrialist Naveen Jindal quit Congress in a surprising move. He was welcomed into the BJP and given a ticket for the Lok Sabha elections from Haryana’s Kurukshetra.

Jindal, chairman of Jindal Steel and Power, was a two-time Congress MP.

He wrote about X at the time: “Today is a very important day in my life. I am proud to have joined the BJP today and will be able to serve the nation under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. I want to contribute to Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Viksit Bharat’ dream.”

Anil Sharma

Former Bihar Congress president Anil Sharma left the country in March, saying the Congress was stuck in a “disastrous” partnership with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

He became the fourth former Bihar Congress chief to quit the party in almost a decade.

Sharma, who joined the BJP in April, alleged that Congress leaders, including Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, suffered from a “communal mindset”, reported PTI.

Vijender Singh

On April 3, Olympic medalist boxer Vijender Singh left the party to join the BJP, saying it was a “homecoming” for him and it was “good to be back”.

This happened just a day after he shared an anti-BJP post taking a photo of Prime Minister Modi. Later, Singh said, “I slept (after tweeting) and when I woke up I realized I was doing something wrong. I realized that I had to join the BJP,” reported India today.

Singh, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket from South Delhi, is a Jat hailing from Kaluwas village of Bhiwani in Haryana. According to The Hinduhe could help the BJP win the votes of his community.

Gourav Vallabh

Gourav Vallabh, a prominent Congress spokesperson, resigned from the party on April 4, lamenting the “directionless path” of the Grand Old Party.

He said the Congress was moving in the wrong direction, against the “fundamental principles of the party”.

In a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Vallabh said he cannot raise anti-Sanatan slogans or insult “wealth creators” every day.

Hours after quitting the Congress, he joined the BJP, saying he supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’.

Sanjay Nirupam

The Congress expelled Sanjay Nirupam in early April for “indiscipline” and “anti-party statements”. However, he claimed that this step was taken after he had already resigned from the party.

Nirupam was another high-profile exit of the Maharashtra Congress. He was eyeing the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency, but was upset after Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), an ally of the Grand Old Party, announced its candidate from the seat.

With the contribution of agencies