Nagpur : In a jolt to the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the assembly and Lok Sabha elections next year, its MLA Ashish Deshmukh submitted his resignation on Monday.
Deshmukh, who was representing the Katol constituency in Nagpur district, said his resignation is a mark of protest against the “anti-farmer agenda” of the Devendra Fadnavis-led government in Maharashtra.
Speculations are rife that 44-year-old Deshmukh will join the Congress. His father and ex-cabinet minister Ranjit Babu Deshmukh is still part of the grand old party.
On Sunday, Deshmukh indicated that he may take on BJP heavyweight Nitin Gadkari in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Nagpur.
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