Lucknow: Congress has received another jolt, Congress heavyweight and former minister RPN Singh resigned to the party, joining BJP.

RPN Singh, Congress in charge of Jharkhand had been sidelined in the party. In 2019 he was defeated by BJP in Padrauna seat in Uttar Pradesh. Sources said that he will likely to fielded against Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently jumped to SP from bjp.

A descendent of the royal family of Sainthwar of Kushinagar, RPN Singh has been a loyalist of the Congress Party. He was an MLA from the Padrauna constituency of Uttar Pradesh, just like his late father CPN Singh, between 1996 and 2009, whereafter he was elected as the MP from the constituency in the 15th Lok Sabha election. In the 16th Lok Sabha election, he lost to BJP’s Rajesh Pandey. He has in the Congress regime also served as the Minister of State for Home Affairs.

His joining to BJP will be set back to Congress in Uttar Pradesh, where Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi leading the campaign.

In a resignation letter to Congress President, Mr. Singh stated that he will be resigning to party primary membership. He thanked party leadership for giving him an opportunity to serve the party.

In Twitter profile, he has announced his quitting grand old party. “Today, at a time, we are celebrating the formation of our great Republic, I begin a new chapter in my political journey. Jai Hind”.

Earlier, the Congress lost another big name in UP, Jitin Prasada, who joined the BJP and was also sworn in as a minister in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet.