Former Chhattisgarh Congress VP Ghanaram Sahu joins BJP

Raipur, Nov 12: Ghanaram Sahu, former Chhattisgarh Congress vice president, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in presence of chief Amit Shah on Monday.

Sahu resigned from the membership of the Congress party on Sunday, just a day ahead polling. He was, reportedly, upset for not getting ticket from Gundardehi. He is the second senior Congress leader to switch over to the BJP in Chhattisgarh, after the party's state working president and tribal leader Ramdayal Uike earlier this month.

In his resignation letter, Sahu alleged that he was being "mentally harassed" by state party president Bhupesh Baghel over personal differences.

"Although I am a Congress officebearer, I was not given a role to play in various activities organised before the election... I have always been a dedicated member of the party, but everything has a limit. As the state Congress chief has been trying to drive me out of the party for some time now, I have decided to resign as state vice-president and give up its primary membership," the note read, listing out his contributions to the party.

The 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly is scheduled to go to polls in two phases - on November 12 and November 20 while the results will be announced on December 11.

The first phase of polls on Monday covered 18 constituencies of eight Naxal-affected districts that include Bastar, Kanker, Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon and Rajnandgaon. Of these, 12 are Scheduled Tribe seats while one is a Scheduled Caste-reserved seat.