Will join BJP for the sake of development, says former Congress MLA from Pune

Congress leader Sangram Thopte on Sunday announced that he would join the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP in a bid to bring development to his region news agency PTI reportedThopte is a former Member of Legislative Assembly MLA from the Bhor constituency in Maharashtrarsquos Pune districtAddressing a rally in Bhor Thopte said the decision was made in line with the wishes of his supporters who believe that aligning with the ruling party is the only way to ensure growth in the constituency According to PTI he had submitted his resignation to Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Harshwardhan Sapkal on SaturdaySpeaking to media persons Thopte said ldquoOn 22 April Ill join the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai People here in Bhor support my decision Everyone is asking me to join the BJP to ensure developmentrdquoPTI reported that Thopte alleged that he had been repeatedly sidelined by the Congress in the recent yearsldquoI have been upset since 2019 as I wasnrsquot allowed to rise within the party I requested several leaders to conduct a rally to support me during last yearrsquos assembly elections but nobody came After I lost the polls no Congress leader bothered to even call me oncerdquo he saidThopte who has served as an MLA from Bhor three times lost the 2024 Assembly Election to Nationalist Congress Party NCP candidate Shankar MandekarThe Thopte family has longstanding ties with the Congress Sangram is the son of veteran Congress leader Anantrao Thopte who represented the Bhor constituency six timesOn Saturday Sapkal had said the Congress had intended to nominate Thopte for the post of Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly after Nana Patole stepped down during the tenure of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA governmentHowever the Congress chief alleged that Devendra Fadnavis who was the Leader of Opposition had influenced then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to block the moveCongress to launch nationwide Save Constitution campaign on April 25The Congress party on Saturday announced the launch of a nationwide Save Constitution campaign across the country from April 25 which will continue till May 30 the party said in a statement The party will also counter the BJPs disinformation campaign about the National Herald issue with senior leaders holding press conferences in different cities across the countryThis decision was made at a meeting of the Congress general secretaries state incharges and heads of various frontal organisations presided over by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in the national capital Briefing reporters after the meeting party general secretarycommunications Jairam Ramesh disclosed that in followup to the resolution passed at the Ahmedabad AICC session the Samvidhan Bachao rallies will be organised at the PCC level from April 25 to April 30This will be followed by similar rallies at the district level from May 3 to May 10 From May 11 to May 17 the Samvidhan Bachao rallies will be held across 4500 assembly segments nationwide From May 20 to May 30 a doortodoor campaign will be held to save the constitution Jairam Ramesh accused the BJP government of misusing the Enforcement Directorate against the Congress leaders Referring to the National Herald issue he said there was no legal issue involved as it was just a case of political vendetta orchestrated by two individuals with a criminal mentalityHe announced that to counter the BJPs disinformation about National Herald Congress leaders will hold press conferences in different cities across the country from April 21 to April 24 This is not a legal issue but a political issue smacking of political vendetta politics of persecution intimidation and fear mongering he observedReferring to the resolution passed at the Ahmedabad session he said the partys focus will be on social economic and political justice He said todays meeting reiterated the partys demand for a caste census across the country Additionally it will pursue the issue of reservation for SC ST and OBC students in private educational institutions The party also reaffirmed the demand for removing the 50 per cent ceiling on the reservationsOn economic justice it reiterated its commitment to legal guarantees for the Minimum Support Price MSP and fixing the MSP based on the Swaminathan formula as well as debt waiver for farmers The meeting emphasised the need for the revival of the MSMEs most of which have been closed down due to massive Chinese importsWith PTI inputsatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params