A day after tendering his resignation from the state Assembly and the Congress party, former MLA Arjun Modhwadia on Tuesday (March 5) joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of state party chief CR Paatil in Gandhinagar.
Arjun Modhwadia quits Congress
Former Gujarat Congress President resigned from the state Assembly on Monday (March 4). He submitted his resignation to the Assembly Speaker. He is an MLA from Porbandar. He was also a Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. He also wrote to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge informing him about his resignation from the party. He ended his nearly four-decade association with the grand old party.
Letter to Kharge
In a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Modhwadia cited the party leadership's decision to skip the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of Ram Lalla in Ram Mandir in January this year, and said that he has been unable to "contribute to the people" of his constituency.
"Prabhu Ram is not just Pujaniya to Hindus, but he is the Aastha of Bharat. Declining the invitation to witness pran pratishtha mahotsav has hurt the sentiments of the people of India. Congress as a party failed to assess the sentiments of the people...To further distract and humiliate this pious occasion, Rahul Gandhi attempted to create ruckus in Assam which further angered our party cadres and citizens of Bharat..." he said in the letter.
What did he say after resignation?
After tendering his resignation from the party, Modhwadia said that he had raised his voice in the party not to "hurt the public sentiments", however, he was not successful in conveying his message to the leadership, and hence he chose to resign.
"When a party loses its connection with the people, it cannot survive for long. The people of the country wanted the Ram Temple to be constructed. The Congress had also decided that after a constitutional verdict from the Supreme Court, we would support it. Even then the invitation to the Pran Pratishtha was declined. I raised my voice then too, that this would hurt the public sentiments and we should not make such political decisions and that decision showed a lack of connection with the people. I tried to convey my message in several other matters, but I was not successful. Finally, I decided to resign today..." he said.
