Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: Congress Leader Ravi Raja Joins BJP, Weakens Party's Sion-Koliwada Base

Mumbai: The city unit of the Congress has suffered a severe setback with it's senior leader Ravi Raja deciding to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the eve of the assembly elections. It is learnt that Raja had a meeting with senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently in this regard.

Raja, a five-time corporator, was aspiring for the Congress ticket to contest the assembly elections from the Sion-Koliwada constituency. But his claim, which was backed by several senior Congress leaders of the state, was ignored by the party high command. The Congress ticket has been given to Ganesh Yadav even though he lost to Capt Tamil Selvan of the BJP by a margin of over 14,000 votes in the 2019 polls.

Raja is well known in Sion-Koliwada and his quitting the Congress will weaken the party's support base specially among Tamil and Marathi voters. Raja's joining the BJP is certain to boost the prospects of Capt Selvan, who was facing anti-incumbency issues.