Dalit MLA crosses over to Cong. in Rajasthan

In a surprise move, National Unionist Zamindara Party MLA Sona Devi joined the Congress here on Friday, while accusing the ruling BJP of working against the interests of Dalits.

Ms. Devi represents the Raisinghnagar Assembly constituency which is reserved for Scheduled Castes. The NUZP, having a strength of two members in the State Assembly, had extended support to the BJP during the 2016 Rajya Sabha elections and the 2017 Presidential election.

The State BJP had got its legal cell office-bearer Yogendra Tanwar inducted into NUZP to prevent cross-voting by the two MLAs, Ms. Devi and Kamini Jindal, in the Rajya Sabha polls.

Ms. Devi joined the Congress in the presence of State party unit president Sachin Pilot and other leaders at the party's State headquarters here. Mr. Pilot said the Congress would be strengthened in the Sriganganagar-Hanumangarh region of northern Rajasthan with Ms. Devi joining the party. “In fact, the BJP is now a sinking ship and many of its members are willing to leave it,” he said.

Ms. Devi, who has been a member of the Assembly's committee on welfare of Scheduled Castes since her election in 2014, said the BJP, being an “anti-Dalit” party, had adopted a “use and throw policy” towards the Dalit communities. “The State government has been targeting Dalits since the April 2 bandh organised against dilution of SC atrocity laws,” she said.

Ms. Devi said the Congress was working for the welfare of all weaker sections of society and she would sincerely perform the duties assigned to her by the party leadership. She had earlier accused the officers of her district of not letting her spend the MLA's local area development fund in her constituency because of her Dalit identity.

The NUZP, led by B.D. Agarwal, was founded in 2013 by a group of guar farmers of northern Rajasthan to represent their interests. The party honours the legacy of Sir Chhotu Ram, a prominent politician of Punjab who was an ideologue of peasants in pre-Independence India and a co-founder of National Unionist Party.