In yet another setback for the BJP, influential 'Gujjar' leader and party legislator from Muzaffarnagar district Avtar Singh Bhadana on Wednesday resigned from the saffron party and joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
According to the sources in the RLD, Bhadana had a meeting with RLD president Jayant Chaudhary in Delhi after which he announced his decision to quit the BJP.
Sources said that Bhadana, an MLA from Mirpur assembly seat in Muzaffarnagar, was likely to be offered RLD nomination from the Jewar seat. RLD was part of the Samajwadi Party (SP) led alliance.
Bhadana, who was considered to be an influential 'Gujjar' community leader, had been critical of the Centre and the state government over their handling of the farmers' agitation against the now-scrapped farm laws.
Jayant Chaudhary, in a message on his Twitter account, welcomed Bhadana into his party and said that his entry would strengthen the RLD in the western UP region.
Bhadana's exit came at a time when the saffron party was already facing opposition from the powerful 'Jat' community in the western UP districts. The western districts of the state would go to the polls in the first phase of polling for the state assembly on February 10.
Bhadana is the fourth senior BJP leader to have quit the party in the past 24 hours. Senior BJP leader and UP minister Swami Prasad Maurya had on Tuesday resigned from the cabinet. Three other BJP MLAs Roshan Lal Verma, Brijesh Prajapati and Bhagwati Sagar had also left the BJP.
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