RAIPUR: With yet another resignation, this time by a veteran tribal leader on Wednesday, the unrest and disappointment persist within the Chhattisgarh Congress following the defeat the party faced in the assembly polls.
Nand Kumar Sai, 77, who resigned from the BJP ending his 45-year-old association with the saffron party, gave a jolt by joining the Congress in May this year. The BJP stalwart switching allegiance to the ruling party in an election year was cited as a big political development.
He was a popular tribal face for the BJP and the Centre offered him the responsibility as the chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes in 2017.
Sai on Wednesday citing the existing circumstances as the reason behind his decision conveyed to the state Congress president Deepak Baij, has resigned from the primary membership of the party.
Former Congress minister Amarjeet Bhagat who lost his seat alleged that Sai's membership of Congress was part of the BJP’s planning to secure vital information about the party’s strategic groundwork ahead of the polls.
Nand Kumar Sai and the chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai are both from the same district Jashpur and both had represented the BJP from the Tapkara assembly constituency on different occasions during the undivided Madhya Pradesh.
A three-time Lok Sabha member and three-time MLA, Sai while joining the Congress party had claimed that he was deeply pained to see the BJP as created by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani no longer exist. He was also a member of Rajya Sabha twice.
Nevertheless, Sai follows those Congress leaders who either resigned or were expelled from the party after the poll debacle.
Following the shocking defeat in the recent elections, the Congress party in Chhattisgarh has been grappling with internal turmoil. Several party leaders, including ex-MLAs Chunnilal Sahu, Mahant Ramsundar Das, and Mohit Kerkatta, have resigned from their positions, expressing their dejection and disappointment over the loss.
In the aftermath of the defeat, many party leaders and cadres have engaged in serious arguments, blaming each other for the electoral setback. The party has even expelled two former MLAs on charges of anti-party activities, while accusing senior Congress leaders for the poll debacle.
A senior party leader, Chandrashekhar Shukla, has gone on record to state that some key positions in the Congress party were taken over by 'brokers and leftists', while also criticizing the fact that Chhattisgarh had become a centre for political tourism for party leaders based in Delhi. However, Shukla was served a showcase notice by the party for his remarks, which were seen as harmful to the party's image.