Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Pratap Singh quits BJP, may contest LS polls independently

Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Ajay Pratap Singh today resigned from the primary membership of the party, around two weeks before his tenure was set to end on Apr 2. He may contest the Lok Sabha polls as an independent candidate.

Ajay Pratap Singh submitted his resignation letter to the BJP National President, JP Nadda today.

“I am resigning from the primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party,” read his resignation letter to National President Nadda and Madhya Pradesh BJP President, VD Sharma, which he also shared on his social media account.

The senior leader was nominated to the Upper House of Parliament by the BJP in March 2018, and is among those five Rajya Sabha MPs from Madhya Pradesh, whose tenure will finish on April 2.

A close aide of state BJP veterans, former Madhya Pradesh CM, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the Assembly Speaker, Narendra Singh Tomar, Ajay Pratap Singh had started his political journey with the ABVP decades ago.

Talking to the press in his home district Sidhi he said, “For me, politics has been a medium of service to the people, and not a source of earning. The situation in the BJP is not favourable for me now, and therefore, I have resigned from the party’s primary membership.”

Sources told agencies that the veteran leader was gunning for a ticket for the forthcoming Lok Sabha election from Sidhi Constituency but the BJP fielded Dr Rajesh Mishra, which could be the reason for his resignation from the party.

Singh is likely to contest the Lok Sabha from Sidhi as an independent candidate, a local BJP leader, who is close to him, told agencies, on condition of anonymity.

Notably, Singh is also facing health issues as he had a kidney transplant a couple of years ago.

(Source: IANS)

- Edited for style

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