Raipur, Oct 23: BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece Karuna Shukla, who has been fielded by the Congress against incumbent Chief Minister Raman Singh in the forthcoming Chhattisgarh elections on Tuesday explained why she chose to go with the Congress.

“Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani had established the BJP. The party has lost its ideologies and culture. Keeping these things in mind, I left BJP after being associated with the party for 32 years.” she said.

“Dr Raman Singh has served as Chhattisgarh CM for 15 years and as the MLA of Rajnandgaon for the last ten years but he didn’t do anything for the betterment of people there. So, Congress president sent me to fight for the people of Rajnandgaon,” she added.

Poll dates
The first phase of the assembly election will be held on November 12 and the last date for filing of nominations is October 23.

A former Member of Parliament (MP) from Janjgir Lok Sabha constituency, Shukla left the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of assembly polls in 2013 and joined Congress the following year, alleging that she was sidelined by the state BJP leadership.

Shukla after quitting her parent party had been vocal against Raman Singh government.

After joining Congress, Shukla had contested 2014 Lok sabha elections on the party ticket from Bilaspur constituency and lost to BJP’s Lakhanlal Sahu.

Earlier in 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Shukla was a BJP candidate from Korba seat and had lost to Charan Das Mahant of Congress.