Central Chronicle News
Raipur, Oct 10:
Ahead of the Marwahi by-elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday received major setback as the Pendra Town Panchayat President Rakesh Jalan and two Corporators quit the party to join the rival Congress.
According to the information received, the Panchayat President Rakesh Jalan as well as Corporators Paras Chaudhary and Premwati joined Congress in presence of the Cabinet Minister Jaisingh Agrawal who is the Guardian Minister as well as in-charge of elections for Congress. Pendra falls under the Marwahi Legislative Assembly constituency. BJP State Unit President Vishnu Deo Sai alleged that Jalan had been pressurized by the Congress leaders to join the party.
BJP sources stated that Jalan had joined BJP after elected as Corporator after winning the election as an Independent candidate.
Apart from BJP, the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) also received major setback as Shivnarayan Tiwari and Sameer Ahmed as well as Pankaj Tiwari quit the Jogi camp to join Congress in presence of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel to further give advantage to the ruling party in the Marwahi by-elections.
