In a big jolt to the Congress, Narayan Patel, the MLA from Mandhata joined BJP in Bhopal after resigning from his membership of the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
Patel joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state party president Vishnu Dutt Sharma at the party office in Bhopal.
Speaking during the occasion, Chouhan said, "Narayan ka vaise bhi Congress me kya kaam hai. (What is the need of Narayan Patel to remain in Congress). He will be in BJP. Congress is still confused about whether to say yes or no for Ram temple in Ayodhya. Narayan has come to a new place. We will ensure that his trust will not be broken."
"Narayan left Congress as it is limited to Twitter only. Rahul Gandhi talks about China in his tweets instead of India. It appears that he dreams of Prime Minister Modi only! I feel the party has become directionless. We welcome Narayan Patel to our side," Chouhan added.
Patel resigned from his membership of the Legislative Assembly earlier today. His resignation was accepted by Protem Speaker Rameshwar Sharma.
Patel is the third Congress MLA who has resigned in the last 15 days. According to the sources, some more Congress MLAs may resign and join the BJP.
Earlier, Congress MLA from Bada Malhera, Pradyuman Lodhi resigned and joined the BJP.
On July 17, Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Sumitra Devi Kasdekar had resigned from her Assembly membership and joined the BJP.
She had submitted her resignation to the Protem Speaker which was accepted as well. A few hours later, she met Chouhan and joined BJP. Kasdekar represented the Nepanagar Assembly constituency.
In March this year, 22 Congress MLAs resigned from Assembly paving way for Chouhan to take over as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for the fourth time, from Kamal Nath.
Madhya Pradesh by-elections will be held in 27 places.
( With inputs from ANI )