Mumbai: In a big blow to Congress ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections, Mumbai Congress leader, longtime corporator and leader of opposition in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Ravi Raja exited the Congress party and joined the BJP on Thursday. Upset over party leadership for denying ticket from Sion Koliwada constituency despite working hard for years, Raja announced on Wednesday that he is leaving the party.
On Thursday he officially joined the BJP in presence of Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Mumbai BJP President, MLA Ashish Shelar. As soon as he joined the party, Raja was appointed as the Mumbai BJP Vice President. "Raja is a learned, hardworking leader. He has record of serving on Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) committee for 23 long years, he has served as the opposition leader in BMC. We are glad such a senior leader is joining us," Fadnavis said.
Raja, a five-time corporator, aspired to the Congress ticket to contest the assembly elections from the Sion Koliwada constituency. However, the party high command ignored his claim, despite several senior Congress leaders of the state backing him. The Congress renominated Ganesh Yadav even though he lost to Capt Tamil Selvan of the BJP by a margin of over 14,000 votes in the 2019 assembly polls.
Capt Tamil Sevlan, the sitting MLA from Sion Koliwada who has been renominated by the BJP, was also present when Raja joined the party. Along with Ravi Raja, his several supporters also joined BJP.
Raja is well known in Sion Koliwada and his quitting the Congress will weaken the party's support base specially among Tamil and Marathi voters. Raja's joining the BJP is certain to boost the prospects of Capt Selvan, who was facing anti-incumbency issues.
