Madhya Pradesh: Pradhyuman Singh Lodhi had contested from Bada Malhera Assembly seat in 2018 polls. He had defeated Bharatiya Janata Party's Lalita Yadav.
Madhya Pradesh: Congress MLA Pradhyuman Singh Lodhi meets CM Shivraj. (ANI photo)The Congress party in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday suffered another blow after its MLA Pradhyuman Singh Lodhi switched over to the ruling BJP. Lodhi is a legislator from Bada Malhera Assembly seat in Chhatarpur district.
Lodhi joined the BJP at the ruling party’s state headquarters in Bhopal in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. On the occasion, state BJP chief VD Sharma announced Lodhi’s induction into the party fold. Chouhan and Sharma welcomed Lodhi into the BJP.
“I have resigned as MLA. My resignation has been accepted. Only the BJP can develop Bada Malhera Assembly constituency and the Bundelkhand region. The chief minister also approved developmental schemes for my area,” Lodhi said while talking to reporters after joining the saffron party.
Madhya Pradesh Assembly’s pro-tem Speaker Rameshwar Sharma said Lodhis resignation as MLA has been accepted. He submitted the resignation on Saturday.
“I told him to reconsider it till Sunday. But, he again came to me today and requested to accept the resignation. So, his resignation has been accepted,” he said.
Before joining the party, Lodhi went to Chouhan’s residence on Sunday morning. He also met senior BJP leader and former Union minister Uma Bharti, who in 2003 represented the Bada Malhera seat in the state Assembly.
In the Assembly elections held in December 2018, Pradhyuman Singh Lodhi had contested from Bada Malhera. He had defeated Bharatiya Janata Party’s Lalita Yadav.
The development comes nearly three months after the Congress lost power to the BJP after resignation of 22 MLAs. The MLAs had resigned following Jyotiraditya Scindia’s resignation from the Congress. Scindia was upset with the Congress high command after he was denied a Rajya Sabha berth.
In the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly, 24 seats are currently vacant. While 22 Congress MLAs resigned, two Congress MLAs had died.
The BJP has 107 MLAs and the Congress has 91. The 24 seats will go to polls in September. The BJP needs to win 9 seats to gain a majority on its own.
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