Setback to Maharashtra Congress as former Minister Padmakar Valvi joins BJP

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 13 : In a big blow to the Congress in Mahrashtra, senior party leader Padmakar Valvi on Wednesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the presence of state BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule and party leader Ashok Chavan, in Mumbai.
Valvi's shift to the BJP took place at a time when Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra reached Maharashtra's Nandurbar on Tuesday.
Valvi was a popular face of the Congress Party in Nandurbar, a tribal-dominated district. Valvi has been a three-time MLA from Nandurbar.
Valvi was a strong Congress leader from North Maharashtra and has been a minister in the previous Congress-NCP government.
The Maharashtra Congress has seen a string of exits in recent days, the last one being a few weeks back when Basavaraj Patil joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil.
On February 21, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis felicitated and congratulated the BJP's newly elected Rajya Sabha members, including Congress turncoat Ashok Chavan.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Mumbai on February 13.
In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, former MLA Arunoday Choubey and Shivdayal Bagri joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav in the state capital Bhopal
Earlier, Manish Khanduri, son of former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and veteran BJP leader Retd Major General Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri, joined the BJP after resigning from Congress in the presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami at the BJP Mahanagar office.
Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Suresh Pachouri also joined the BJP in Bhopal.