JDS general secretary Danish Ali joined BSP on Saturday. (ANI) JDS general secretary Danish Ali joined BSP on Saturday. (ANI)

As the political whirlwind intensifies ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, JDS general secretary Danish Ali switched to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Saturday. The development comes two days after the Congress-JD(S) coalition finalised seat sharing in Karnataka for the forthcoming Lok Sabha election. Of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies, the Congress will contest in 20 seats and the JD(S) will contest in the remaining 8 seats. “JD(S) doesn’t have a large organisational structure in UP. Despite all my efforts, I could not have raised it in my ‘janmabhoomi, my ‘karmabhoomi’….The way in which there is a threat to the constitution today, it has become essential to use our energy with strong leadership,” Danish was quoted as saying by ANI.

“I never asked for anything even when I was in JD(S), it was up to HD Deve Gowda ji to decide what work to assign me. I have come here after taking the blessings and permission of Deve Gowda ji. I will work wherever Behen ji assigns me,” Danish said.

It is to be noted that Danish was part of the negotiating team of the JDS to form an alliance with the Congress.

Meanwhile, Congress suffered a setback in Odisha where a sitting MLA resigned from the primary membership of the party. Click here for more Election News

Salipur MLA Prakash Behera Saturday resigned from the primary membership after three MLAs – Nabakishore Das, Jogesh Singh and Krushna Chandra Sagari, had resigned from the party earlier. While Das and Singh joined the BJD, Sagaria went to the BSP. In a letter to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Behera said that he has decided to quit the party after being “ignored” by the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) leadership.

“I worked in the party for last 20 years, but did not get importance in the Congress,” Behera told reporters. The Congress legislator claimed that he had raised certain issues with the OPCC president, but they were “ignored”.

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