Ahead of Rajasthan polls, expelled BJP MLA Shobharani Kushwaha joins Congress with three others

Ahead of Rajasthan elections to be held in November this year, Dholpur MLA Shobharani Kushwaha joined the Congress party along with three others on Wednesday, October 25. Kushwaha has been expelled from the Bharatiya Janata Party. 

Kushwaha joined the Congress party at a public meeting in Jhunjhunu, where party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi welcomed the leaders. Along with Kushwaha, BJP leader from  Kishangarh, Vikas Chaudhary, and former National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Mamta Sharma gained the membership of the Congress party. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra were among the party leaders present at the public meeting.

In June last year, Kushwaha was expelled from the BJP for cross-voting in Rajya Sabha elections while Vikas Choudhary was disgruntled over not getting a BJP ticket from the Kishangarh Assembly seat in the upcoming polls.

Gehlot visits BJP MLA 

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday evening visited BJP legislator Surykanta Vyasa who has been denied ticket by the saffron party in this election. The visit has triggered a row as it is believed that the Congress party is reaching out to disgruntled BJP legislators ahead of the state assembly elections. 

Rajasthan will go to polls on November 25 and votes will be counted on December 3. The state will vote in a single phase to elect legislators for 200 seats. There is a direct fight between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. While BJP is aiming to wrest the state from the incumbent Congress party, Congress under Ashok Gehlot aims to secure the state for the second time. Since 1993, when the BJP came to power after a stint of President’s rule, the state has alternated between the Congress and the BJP.

(With agency inputs)