Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi threatened to quit the Congress and float a new party on Thursday. However, he clarified that the decision has nothing to do with Rahul Gandhi’s elevation in the party.
Formal decision will be taken at a meeting in Marwah where the leaders will also decide party name and symbol.
“On June 6 will go to my constituency and interact with people, will take formal decision to form new party,” said Jogi.
“Only people like me and my son Amit Jogi, who don’t fear anything, can fight against Raman Singh”, he said, adding that Raman Singh successfully managed to turn rival Congress into BJP’s B-team.
“I tried to alert the high command but no body listened to me,” said Jogi. “I will not speak to Delhi anymore,” he said on questions asked over his decision.
Jogi also alleged that TS Singh Deo and state president Bhupesh Baghel were involved in land scam and pipe scam respectively.
“Don’t want to name anyone as the cause of my discomfort with the party,” he said.
“Working committee of the Congress decided to expel Ajit Jogi. His statements and actions against the party has been taken into consideration by the working committee. We will not tolerate anyone speaking against the party. Cannot comment on Ajit Jogi forming his new party,” said Congress leader Shailesh Nitin Trivedi.
Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh said, “Ajit Jogi sold himself for money, so he should better leave the party.”
The party attacked Jogi and state-unit spokesperson Shailesh Nitin by issuing a press release. The party called them the middlemen of CM Raman Singh.
The Congress in January had expelled Jogi’s son MLA Amit Jogi for six years over his alleged role in fixing a by-election that led to a BJP win, a move aimed at plugging deep fault lines within the party in the tribal state.