In a dramatic turn of events ahead of the 2019 General elections, Congress' Raebareli MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh and his brother Rakesh Singh have quit the party. The duo accused the party high command of being indifferent to local leaders.

In a dramatic turn of events ahead of the 2019 General Election, Congress' Raebareli MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh and his brother Rakesh Singh have quit the party. The duo accused the party high command of being indifferent to local leaders.

They are likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of party chief Amit Shah, reports said.

#JustIn -- In a major setback to Congress ahead of the 2019 General elections, Raebareli MLA, MLC leave the party accusing the party high command of being indifferent to local leaders. pic.twitter.com/waaYyjTfkV — News18 (@CNNnews18) April 11, 2018

Singh is believed to share a close relationship with Congress president Rahul Gandhi and senior party leader Sonia Gandhi. He is also known to be a close aide of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

He was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council from the local body quota. The MLC's third brother, Rakesh, was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly on a Congress ticket in the 2017 Assembly election.

In April last year, the MLC was suspended from the primary membership of the Congress for an indefinite period for 'anti-party' activities. The MLC was accused of misbehaving with the general secretary of the Raebareli Congress committee and some of the local party leaders.

Singh was served a suspension notice by Raebareli District Congress Committee president VK Shukla. In the notice, the MLC was accused of physically assaulting Manoj Paswan, general secretary of the district Congress committee, and abducting panchayat members who had moved a no-confidence motion against his brother Awadhesh, a district panchayat president in Raebareli.

Local Congress leaders also alleged that Singh and his brother Awadhesh were trying to unseat AICC general secretary and Sonia Gandhi's constituency representative Kishori Lal Sharma.

In a press conference, the MLC had hinted at his strained relationship with Sharma, saying that he and KL Sharma could not coexist in Raebareli and in Congress. Charges of nepotism were also levelled against the MLC.