In a setback to the Congress in Rajasthan, four-time MLA and former minister Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday.
Malviya, the MLA from Bagidora in Banswara district, said he joined the BJP for the development of the Vagad region.
Vagad is a tribal region in south Rajasthan and comprises the Banswara and the Dungarpur districts.
Malviya, who is also a former MP, reached the BJP office in Jaipur and was welcomed to the party by its Rajasthan in-charge Arun Singh, state unit chief CP Joshi and other leaders.
The lawmaker said he met BJP chief JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Sunday and added that he was influenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address during the saffron party's national convention.
Targeting the Congress, Malviya said he was hurt by the party's refusal to attend the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
"With full devotion, I am joining the BJP," he said at a press conference at the party office.
"There is no one else who can work in the tribal area except the BJP and Modi," he added.
Joshi said Malviya decided to join the BJP after being impressed by the policies and works of the Modi government.
Malviya has been an MLA since 2008.
He was a Cabinet minister from 2008 to 2013 and again from 2021 to 2023.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha on a Congress ticket from Banswara in 1998.
