Ahead of the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls due this year-end, MLA Virendra Raghuwanshi on Thursday announced his resignation from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claiming he was "ignored" in the party.

In a letter addressed to MP BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma and released in a press conference here, Raghuwanshi, who represents Kolaras assembly seat in Shivpur district, said he had informed about his "pain" in the last three-five years to the chief minister (Shivraj Singh Chouhan) and the top leadership.

"But they all have not taken note of it, he claimed.

"In the Gwalior-Chambal division, party workers like me were being ignored by the newly arrived BJP members though we worked dedicatedly for the party in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls," he further claimed.

Raghuwanshi alleged that corrupt officials were being posted in the Kolaras constituency to create hurdles in the developmental works being carried out by him and to harass him and his workers.

He also targeted BJP leader and Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who quit the Congress in 2020 following which a number of Congress legislators also resigned and joined the ruling party.

When the state Congress government collapsed in 2020, he (Scindia) had said farmers' loans of Rs 2 lakh were not being waived as promised, Raghuwanshi claimed.

But after the formation of the BJP government, Scindia did not even speak about loan waiver, he further claimed.

Raghuwanshi also alleged in the letter that ministers and administration indulged in massive corruption and claimed the in-charge minister of Shivpuri district justified bribery by stating “it is like offering prasad in a temple.” He further claimed that though the BJP sought votes in the name of “Gaumata” (cow), it has done nothing for their nutrition, and majority of the cowsheds constructed for them remained non-functional.

Asked about the BJP's prospects in the upcoming assembly elections, Raghuwanshi said, “All newly appointed ministers and MLAs who have come into the BJP will not be able to save the party. They will drown the party and nobody will be able to save it.” Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and former Union minister Arun Yadav in a statement said Virendra Raghuwanshi "will join the Congress on September 2.”

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