Former BJP tribal leader joins Chhattisgarh unit of Congress

An ousted BJP leader and former Chairman of Chhattisgarh Sanskrit Board Chintamani Singh has joined the Indian National Congress along with his supporters.
"Having approved of the principles and ideology of the Congress party, Chintamani Maharaj has decided to join it, along with his supporters," Congress spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said here today.
Congress state unit chief Nand Kumar Patel formally welcomed Chintamani during a function at Maoist-hit Kusmi village of Sarguja district on Sunday.
Over thousand supporters of the former BJP leader from tribal dominated Kusmi and Rajpur region were also present on the occasion, Trivedi said.
The son of Gahira Guru, a tribal leader and religious guru of the tribal Kanwar community, Chintamani Singh is popular in the Northern Chhattisgarh region and his joining the Congress is likely to strengthen the party, which has been struggling to come to power since 2003.

The denial of an election ticket to him in the 2008 Assembly election, prompted him to quit the BJP.

Later, he fought the election as an Independent candidate, after which he which was sacked from the party.
Chintamani's induction will help the party make a great impact in fourteen constituencies of the Northern Chhattisgarh region, party sources said.
However, Nand Kumar Patel who did not clarify whether Chintamani will be given a ticket to contest the coming assembly election said, "The party high command will finally decide on candidates for the election".