In a big jolt to the Congress party, a veteran tribal leader from the Banswara district and sitting Congress MLA from Bagidora, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, joined the BJP at its state headquarters here on Monday.

Soon after joining the saffron party, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya told reporters that he resigned from the post of MLA.

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Malviya, who has been camping in Delhi for the last three days, met senior BJP leaders, including JP Nadda, party president, for their blessings to switch over to the party.

Later, Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma was asked to report to the Jaipur party office about his joining the party.

Malviya took the membership of the BJP in the presence of BJP leaders including State President CP Joshi and Arun Singh who fecilitated the switchover.

Explaining about his decision to quit the Congress, Malviya said he was hurt the most when the Congress refused to attend the consecration ceremony of Ram temple.

He further said, “If I want to develop my area, I find no one to work in the tribal areas except the BJP. PM Modi’s policies have impressed me. Losing Assembly membership was certain. I now will work on the Mangarh Dham in Banswara and get it declared a national monument. I wish to see the development of the Vagad (tribal) region.”

Malviya was an MP from Banswara in 1998, and a cabinet minister in the previous Ashok Gehlot Government with a number of portfolios. The BJP can field a Lok Sabha candidate from Dungarpur-Banswara.

Malviya has a long political experience. A grassroots leader, he contested elections for sarpanch, pradhan, MLA and MP. He was also a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

The big question before the saffron party is whether to drop its current MP Kanakmal Katara from the Banswara Lok Sabha constituency.

Meanwhile in hurriedly called press conference, PCC President G S Dotasara alleged that in the previous Congress government during 2008-13, Malviya had indulged in the anti-party activities and sided with anti-Congress candidates in the assembly polls as a result of which the party lost four seats.

“Malviya’s suspicious political activities are now known to everyone in the Banswara district and thus lost his support base. Now that he was to be fielded from Banswara in the Lok Sabha elections, he chose to cross the fence,” Dotasara said.

“Recently, four Congress MLAs from the Vagad region met former CM Ashok Gehlot and me. We discussed the matter in detail and came to the conclusion that the party won’t lose anything from the decision of Malviya,” he added.