Bhopal: In a big jolt to the Congress, Narayan Patel, the MLA from Mandhata on Thursday resigned from his membership of the Legislative Assembly. His resignation was accepted by Protem Speaker Rameshwar Sharma.
Patel, who is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) later today, is the third Congress MLA who has resigned in the last 15 days and 25th party MLA to do so since March. Madhya Pradesh by-elections will be held in 27 places.
According to the sources, some more Congress MLAs may resign and join the BJP. Earlier, Congress MLA from Bada Malhera, Pradyuman Lodhi resigned and joined the BJP.
On July 17, Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Sumitra Devi Kasdekar resigned from her Assembly membership and joined the BJP. She submitted her resignation to the Protem Speaker which was accepted as well. A few hours later, she met Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and joined BJP. Kasdekar represented the Nepanagar Assembly constituency.