In a setback to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Ritesh Pandey, Member of Parliament representing Ambedkar Nagar Lok Sabha constituency joined Bhartiya Janata Party today in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak and other BJP leaders after he announced his resignation from BSP on Sunday morning.
After shifting allegiance to the BJP, a former BSP MP said, "...I had been working for BSP for the last 15 years. I don't want to comment on the thinking and activities of her (Mayawati). I have written in detail about this in my resignation letter. Whatever is happening in my constituency has occurred in the last five years. I have taken this decision after evaluating all those things happening on the ground, be it the two industrial areas in the constituency, the Purvanchal expressway, Gorakhpur link expressway, schools, the four-lane road that connects Ambedkar Nagar to Ayodhya's Ram temple, along with the way the economic conditions of people, farmers, women, and Dalits have changed and uplifted their living standards."
Ritesh Pandey announced his resignation in a social media post on Sunday blaming the Mayawati-led party of neglecting him within the party over an extended period. "For a long time, neither am I being called to attend party meetings nor has the party leadership spoken to me. I made numerous efforts to get in touch with and meet you (Mayawati) and the top leadership of the party but it did not yield any result," Pandey said in his resignation letter.
Notably, after meeting with PM Modi over lunch 10 days ago, Pandey praised him in a social media post, giving rise to speculation about him joining the BJP.
(With inputs from ANI)
