Cong has no future, all its MLAs should join BJP: Ashish Deshmukh

Nagpur, Nov 27 (PTI) Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashish Deshmukh on Wednesday said all the 16 newly-elected assembly members of the Congress in Maharashtra should join the BJP, claiming their party has no future in the state.

The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in the state bagged 230 of the 288 assembly seats, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) could win only 46 seats in the recently-concluded state polls.

The Congress, which is a constituent of the MVA, secured only 16 seats.

“The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Mahayuti alliance won by a large margin and we saw the downfall of Congress in Maharashtra. This decline of Congress is happening everywhere,” Deshmukh, who won the election from Savner seat in Nagpur district, claimed in a statement.

The continuous decline in the number of seats in every state and voter base has left no option for the Congress, he said, adding the result is a new low for the opposition party.

“There is no future for the Congress and its MLAs” and its MLAs in Maharashtra should join the BJP, he said.

The Congress has won only 16 seats in Maharashtra, which sends the second highest number of 48 members to the Lok Sabha, he noted.

Maharashtra is the 17th state in India where Congress has less than 10 per cent representation in the assembly, the BJP leader said.

“With just 16 MLAs in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly, the Congress now has only 5.55 per cent seats in the House. This is Congress party’s lowest seat share in the state assembly since 1962,” said Deshmukh.

Since 2014, the Congress’ seat share fell from below 20 per cent to under 10 per cent now, he added.

Deshmukh joined the BJP in June 2023 after was expelled from the Congress.