BJP legislator Ashish Deshmukh quits party

Ashish Deshmukh

BJP legislator Ashish Deshmukh has quit the party and his post. The son of a former state Congress president, he had switched over to the BJP ahead of the 2014 elections. This is the second resignation by a BJP representative in eastern Vidarbha.

Earlier, Nana Patole had quit the party and parliamentary seat of Bhandara-Gondia, following which the BJP lost the seat to the NCP-Congress alliance in a bypoll. Deshmukh said he quit the BJP because the party had been ignoring the common people and their issues. "I have been raising issues, but the BJP hasn't given any justice," he said.

Deshmukh, who is a strong proponent of the separate Vidarbha movement, is expected to return to the Congress because he had asked for a meeting with party president Rahul Gandhi at Sevagram on Tuesday. A member of the Vidhan Sabha from Katol near Nagpur said he has sent his resignation on Tuesday and will hand it over personally to the speaker on Wednesday.

After a great connect with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, differences cropped up between him and the BJP over the party's stand on granting statehood to Vidarbha and issues related to his constituency. Deshmukh had been active in the separate Vidarbha movement and also joined hands with the BJP before beating his minister uncle, Anil Deshmukh (NCP), in the 2014 polls.

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