Chhattisgarh: In jolt to Congress ahead of polls, party MLA joins BJP

Bhopal: In a setback to Congress ahead of November assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, party MLA Chintamani Maharaj on Tuesday joined BJP.

Mr Maharaj, a two-time MLA, was considered the tribal face of Congress in Surguja region, comprising 14 assembly constituencies. He resigned from Congress over the denial of the ticket by the party in the ensuing assembly elections.

Senior BJP leader Om Mathur, who is the poll in charge of the party in Chhattisgarh, admitted him to the party at Ambikapur in the state. “It is a homecoming for Mr. Maharaj”, Mr. Mathur said.

Mr. Maharaj had quit the BJP and joined Congress in 2008 after he was denied a ticket by the saffron party in the polls.

He had contested the 2008 assembly polls in the Samri seat as an independent candidate and lost.

He was given a ticket by Congress in the Tundra seat in the 2013 assembly polls and won. He had shifted to Samri in the 2018 polls and won the seat in Congress.

Mr Maharaj is a son of seer Sant Gahara Guru who has strong followings in at least six assembly constituencies in the Surguja region.

The Congress had swept the region in the 2018 assembly polls by securing all the 14 seats in the belt.

Chhattisgarh is going to assembly polls in two phases on November seven and November 17.