Rajasthan MLA Ghanshyam Tiwari resigned from the BJP on Monday, accusing chief minister Vasundhara Raje of corruption and nepotism.
In his resignation letter to BJP president Amit Shah, Tiwari did not name Raje, but said, “The chief of state government in Rajasthan in collusion with some ministers and bureaucrats has been robbing the state and the level of corruption has scaled a new high.”
He accused the CM of appointing her cronies in important posts and introducing laws in an arbitrary manner with the sole intention of benefitting herself and her coterie.
Tiwari also accused Shah of inaction and having surrendered to corruption.
In a press conference later, he launched a scathing attack on BJP, saying there was an “undeclared emergency” in the country and Rajasthan, and accused the Congress and BJP of being hand-in-gloves in corruption.
Acting state BJP president Ashok Parnami said that there will be no impact of Tiwari’s resignation on the BJP. “It sends a good message to the party cadres that there is no place in the party for leaders who are undisciplined,” he said.
Tiwari, who represented Sanganer (Jaipur) in the state assembly, will contest elections from the same constituency from the newly-floated Bharat Vahini Party, which is headed by his son Akhilesh and which had got recognition from the Election Commission (EC) last week.
He said his new party will contest polls on all the 200 assembly seats in the state later this year.
Tiwari is a five-time MLA from Rajasthan and was the state education minister. He had joined the RSS as boy and had went on to hold different posts. He also took part in the protests during Emergency.