Pune, Apr 20 (PTI) Sangram Thopte, Congress leader and former MLA from Bhor constituency in Maharashtra’s Pune district, said on Sunday that he would join the BJP to ensure development in his area.

Addressing a rally in Bhor, he said it was the wish of his supporters, who feel that aligning with the ruling party is the only option to usher in growth in the constituency. He had tendered his resignation to the state Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal on Saturday.

Talking to mediapersons, Thopte said, “On April 22, I’ll join the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai. People here in Bhor support my decision. Everyone is asking me to join the BJP to ensure development.” He claimed to have been ignored by the Congress multiple times.

“I have been upset since 2019 as I wasn’t allowed to rise within the party. I requested several leaders to conduct a rally to support me during last year’s assembly elections, but nobody came. After I lost the polls, no Congress leader bothered to even call me once,” he said.

Thopte, who had represented the Bhor constituency three times, was defeated by NCP candidate Shankar Mandekar in the 2024 assembly polls.

His family is rooted in Congress tradition. Thopte is the son of party veteran Anantrao Thopte, who had represented Bhor six times.

Sapkal on Saturday had claimed that the Congress wanted to field Thopte for the assembly Speaker’s position after Nana Patole resigned when the MVA was in power. But Fadnavis, the opposition leader then, scuttled their efforts by pressuring the then governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, he said. PTI COR NR