Congress MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh, MLA Rakesh Pratap Singh and the Zilla Panchayat chairman Awadhesh Pratap Singh have quit the Congress party citing neglect from top leaders of the party despite winning consistently from the constituency. Rakesh Pratap Singh is an MLA from Harchandpur constituency. With the exit of Awadhesh Pratap Singh, Congress would have no Zilla Panchayat chairman in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
“At a time when a BJP candidate from local body quota lost in the Legislative Council elections in the PM’s Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi, we won the seat from Sonia’s constituency. We won the only Zila panchayat seat and an MLA seat… We did not get this because of the Congress,” MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh told Indian Express.
The leaders who have quit the Congress are expected to join the BJP as per media reports. The primary membership of Dinesh Pratap Singh had been suspended indefinitely due to anti-party activities in April 2017. Mr Singh had been suspended from the party for allegedly misbehaving with the general secretary of the district Congress committee and local party leaders. In addition to this local Congress members had also moved a no-confidence motion against the ZP chairman Awadhesh Pratap Singh last year.
The exit of party members from Congress bastion and former president Sonia Gandhi’s constituency further adds to the woes of the party in Uttar Pradesh.