Senior tribal leader from Chhattisgarh, Nand Kumar Sai, on December 20 left the Congress party. The development comes just months after the veteran, who has been a BJP State president and the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, left the BJP to join the Congress.
Back in May, Mr. Sai had accused political rivals of his own party, then the BJP, for continuously hurting his dignity by making false allegations. Apart from holding an organisational post, Mr. Sai, who comes from the tribal belt of Sarguja, has been an MP and an MLA in the past, and is a former Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
In his resignation letter sent to the Pradesh Congress Committee president Deepak Baij, Mr. Sai wrote that he was resigning as some circumstances had arisen before him, without going into details.
“The subject of the article is that, some time ago, due to some circumstances, I had accepted the membership of the Congress Party. Stayed in the party for a few days and worked sincerely. Given the circumstances that have arisen before me, I am resigning as a primary member of the Congress Party,” he wrote.
After joining the Congress, which was then the ruling party, he was made the Chairperson of the Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation, a State Cabinet Minister rank position. Mr. Sai then sought a ticket to fight the Assembly election from Kunkuri, the constituency from where the current Chief Minister, the BJP’s Vishnu Deo Sai, has won, but was denied the opportunity. Including Kunkuri, the BJP won all 14 seats of the Sarguja region in the polls held in November, whereas the Congress drew a blank there.
Mr. Nand Kumar Sai has not yet announced his next move, amid speculation that he may return to the BJP’s fold.
