Maharashtra: Senior Congress leader Namdeo Usendi joins BJP in Nagpur

Nagpur (Maharashtra) [India], March 26 (ANI): Senior Congress leader Namdeo Usendi joined the BJP in Nagpur on Tuesday. The former MLA resigned from the primary membership of the Congress Party today.
Namdeo Usendi said, "In 2014 and 2019, I contested elections from the Gadchiroli Lok Sabha seat on a Congress Party ticket. Despite the defeat in both elections, I continued working for the party, but this time my ticket was cancelled and the ticket was given to a person who is not a local. My ticket has been cancelled, saying that I have less money than other candidates to contest the elections."
He further said that he had joined the BJP for the development of the area.
"If such injustice is done to the tribal cell president of the state, then imagine what will be the state of the common tribal people in the party. I have joined hands with the BJP for the development of my area. The people of tribal cells are ignored in the Congress party, tribal workers are used only to increase the crowd," he added.
Earlier Maharashtra's senior Congress leader and Umred MLA Raju Parwe on Sunday joined Shiv Sena in the presence of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.
Parwe resigned from Congress earlier in the day and later, joined Shiv Sena at 'Varsha', the official residence of CM Shinde.
Parve won the Umred seat in Nagpur district on a Congress ticket in the 2019 assembly elections.
The induction of Parwe can be seen as a boost for the Shiv Sena ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Maharashtra will vote in five phases for 48 constituencies in the general elections.
Maharashtra ranks second in contributing to the Lower House of the Parliament, following Uttar Pradesh with 80 seats.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats.
The undivided NCP, part of the opposition alliance, contested 19 seats and won four. Following the split in 2022, the Shiv Sena, which had earlier formed a coalition government with the Congress and NCP, saw Eknath Shinde align with the BJP. (ANI)