10 Big-ticket Resignations That Have Jolted Parties Ahead of Elections
News 180As many as 170 MLAs left the Congress to join other parties during the elections held between 2016-2020, while only 18 BJP legislators switched parties to contest the polls in this period, according to a report by poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms. The report said between 2016-2020, 182 of the 405 re-contesting MLAs, who switched political parties, joined the BJP, followed by 38 who joined the Congress and 25 who joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Suvendu Adhikari West Bengal political heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari joined the BJP on December 19, 2020 days after he resigned from the Trinamool Congress and gave up his cabinet portfolios in the Mamata Banerjee government. On June 7, 2019, five Congress MLAs, led by senior MLA Sabita Indra Reddy, met TRS working president K T Rama Rao and submitted a list of 12 MLAs willing to join the ruling party. Rita Bahuguna Joshi Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee Chief and MLA Rita Bahuguna Joshi quit Congress and joined BJP in October 2016.